The Butterfly Effect
by Euphoria Ranger
Summary: A split second decision changes history, causing a cascade effect that changes the course of time and space. A Naruto world where one person's choice changes history forever. Eventual Naru?, Sasu?, MinaKush. CHAPTER 10 RELEASED! The Kazekage's children vs. the mysterious Shiore! It's getting super crazy up in here!
1. (Intro Arc 1) Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Introductory Arc) Chapter 1 – Meet the Uzumakis! A New Saga Begins!

For the most part, a normal day in the Hidden Leaf Village for the young and upcoming ninja hopefuls starts with an early wake up call and breakfast with the family before heading to class for the day. Many families partake in various early morning routines, which may include some light training or a quick chat with relatives over a warm meal. However, there are those certain few who are not inherently inclined to wake up at a reasonable time to start these routine activities of the day, which leads us to the beginning of our tale, the home of the Fourth Hokage.

As the leader of a large ninja village, one might expect that he would be the owner of a decently sized mansion, and while this is true to an extent, Minato Namikaze did not purchase his current home with fame and prestige in mind. Rather, he commissioned the construction of nice home that was accommodating to his small family of three. That's not to say it was a small structure; there was plenty of room for all everyone, with spacious living spaces, a comforting environment, and great bedrooms for the sleep deprived.

Within a dark corner of one of those bedrooms, a seventeen-year old blonde boy was fast asleep, no doubt dreaming of his one true love – ramen. He was only partially covered by his bed sheets, with a leg partially hanging off the bed, but that didn't seem to matter to the youth, as evidenced by the sloppy smile on his dozing face. His room was a cluttered mess, evident by the large pile of dirty clothes overflowing from a hamper in the closet and a garbage can that was spilling over with empty ramen cups. The lone clean area in the room was near the bed and window. A cherished family photo stood in a frame on a nightstand by a simple lamp, while a few potted plants rested on the windowsill next to the young man's desk, with various scrolls scattered over it. Barely visible under the documents was a laptop computer, and a cell phone was charging on the windowsill.

As the youth released a loud, rattling snore, the door to his room had slowly opened, and a woman stalked into the room, her face contorting in disgust as she kicked aside some rancid underwear in her path. She had long red hair that extended down to her lower back, an apron fastened over a simple green dress, and smoky blue eyes that narrowed as she surveyed the scene in front of her. As she looked down on the still form of her slumbering son and then at the flashing display of the silenced alarm clock, her eyebrow began twitching in annoyance. "Get up, Naruto," she said somewhat loudly but firmly. The young man in question just ignored the order and rolled over, immersing himself in the much more comfortable covers while murmuring unintelligible words in his sleep. Unfortunately, his attempt to hide didn't work to his advantage. The next request was a couple of decibels louder as both his mother repeated her request in an eruption of anger, "GET UP NARUTO!"

The disembodied voice of Uzumaki Naruto floated out from under the pillows, "I don't wanna, Mom…I've got plenty of time to get to the academy…" His voice faded off as he burrowed even deeper into his covers.

Uzumaki Kushina didn't look convinced, and her eyebrow continued to twitch when her son didn't emerge from under the covers, and a soft snoring once again commenced. A moment later, though, she began to smirk as an idea popped into her head. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and closed her eyes in concentration. Glowing chains of chakra shot out of the ceiling, wrapped around her son's arms, and hoisted him out of the bed. The source of the Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) was the middle of the woman's back, and she looked smug as her son hung before her.

Clad in only an old t-shirt and boxers, he did not look too happy to be trussed up in his own bedroom. She ignored the evil look he was shooting her way. "If you think you can get a shower, dressed, eat breakfast, and to the academy in 15 minutes," she said pointedly, "you're a hell of a lot better than I am at getting ready. Sasuke was already up and gone 10 minutes ago, you know."

Naruto glared at her through sleep-encrusted eyes and wrenched his arms free of the chains. As they faded from view, the young man fell back down onto his bed and scratched his face. "That's because Sasuke's an overachiever, Mom, and 15 minutes is so much time," he muttered, "You just take so much time because you're a girl…" He finally managed to get out of bed and slowly began to search his room for some clean clothes to wear.

Stifling a chuckle, his mother said, "Yeah, well this _girl_ is going to give you 5 minutes to get in the kitchen for breakfast before she comes back here and drags you out herself." Naruto just waved a hand at her as he walked by, newly found clean underwear in hand, and his mom ruffled his hair before going back into the kitchen.

The blonde teen slogged into the kitchen five minutes later, looking slightly more awake than he did earlier, and sat down next to his father at the table. Namikaze Minato glanced at his son before chuckling to himself and getting back to the morning paper as Kushina laid a plate of eggs and toast in front of the heir to the Hokage.

As usual, the young man was dressed in his usual orange and black sweatshirt and slacks, with the usual weapons holsters and standard sandals. Never one to pass up food, Naruto quickly dug into the meal, and his father commented, "You don't need to eat like a heathen, son. It's not going to do you any good if you choke to death."

Shooting his father an incredulous look, the blonde shook his head vehemently. "Yeah, but now I'm getting excited because when I get back, I'm gonna be a genin!" he said in between bites.

The Fourth Hokage chuckled and put the paper down to take a drink of his morning coffee. "Oh really now? You know, I heard that if certain young men did well on their graduation exam, they might get to start learning a new technique tonight."

As he shared a look of knowing with his wife, Naruto stopped stuffing his face and looked up at his father in cautious excitement. "Really?" he asked slowly. When his father nodded, the excited young blonde exclaimed, "Yes!" He drank the last of his orange juice in one big gulp and darted to the door, only pausing to place his dishes next to the sink.

"Naruto, you might need to use a tail to get there in time. Your mother wasn't kidding about you sleeping in too long!" Minato shouted after his son, having pushed his chair back into the hallway. He heard a rapidly fading confirmation and shook his head in amused disbelief. He looked at his wife, who had come over with plates of food for the two of them, and said, "He becomes more and more like you every day."

She laid a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of him before smacking his arm lightly and sitting down across from him. "You have no room to talk whatsoever," she retorted, "He looks more and more like you every day." He shrugged, a wide grin on his face, and started to dig into his food with a hungry fervor, not unlike his son's. Kushina rolled her eyes and started eating at a slower pace, though not without a smile on her own face.

…xXx…

Outside, Naruto leapt over the wall surrounding his home and was soon surrounded by a reddish-orange cloak of pure, bubbling chakra. His eyes darkened to red and narrowed into vertical slits, while the whiskers on his face grew more pronounced, and his fingernails lengthened into claws. Two ears and a tail of chakra also grew out of the cloak. Inside his head, he heard a deep voice rumble, "**So today they're going to let you become a genin. That may be the dumbest thing this village could do with the way you act most of the time.**"

'Shut up, you stupid fox,' Naruto thought, slightly irritated, as he ran on all fours through the streets of Konoha, 'You have no room to talk about bad behavior.'

As he ran to the academy, he focused his attention to the mental conversation with his host. The landscape of his mind was that of a large field surrounded by rolling fields. Naruto appeared on the head of the giant, nine tailed crimson fox that inhabited those 'lands,' and the fox growled in annoyance. "**Watch it, boy. You're just lucky I like you so much,**" it muttered ominously.

Knowing that the tough guy act that the demon put on was mostly for show, Naruto just laughed in response, but he quickly shut up when the Kyūbi added, "**Do you really think that trick you and your father concocted is really going to fool the teachers at that piddly academy of yours?**"

Now it was Naruto's turn to roll his eyes, though he couldn't hide the look of worry on his face. 'Of course it is, idiot,' he snapped, 'Iruka-sensei knows full well that because of you,' and here, Naruto kicked Kurama's head a couple of times, inciting a long growl of anger, 'I don't have the fine chakra control to make normal clones, but Shadow Clones are a different story. Besides, they probably just want to see the clones, not the technique used to make them. If anything, they should be happy that I've mastered such a high level clone technique.'

The giant fox snorted at its container's confidence. "**Yeah, sure, we'll go with that,**" the Kyūbi muttered, a few rattling laughs leaving his large throat as Naruto returned to concentrating on reaching the academy in time.

The blond youth skidded into the classroom a minute later, and the red chakra cloak covering him quickly dissipated. He darted into the school and dashed down the hallway until he reached his classroom. Looking around and not seeing his teacher anywhere, he breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed in a pile at the front of the room, earning some snickers from the other teens present.

A dark haired boy seated a few rows up smirked at the sight before him, ignoring the girls surrounding him. "Nice of you to join us, Naruto. Did Auntie Kushina finally manage to wake you up?" he said with a wide grin on his face.

The blonde cracked open an eye glared at him with it and snapped, "Shut up, Sasuke." The smirk on the face of the Uchiha teen grew larger, and a content look settled on his face.

A girl with long, platinum blonde hair sitting very close to Sasuke snorted as she observed Naruto below. "Honestly, Naruto, even Shikamaru beat you to class. You're seriously behind the times if you can't get here before him." Yamanaka Ino paused momentarily to send a dirty look to a ponytailed male sitting in the row in front of her whose head was buried in his arms and muttered, "Though…that doesn't seem to have kept him awake very long." A pencil whizzing by her head as she turned to say something to Sasuke caused her to become visibly enraged. She whipped her head back to glare at Nara Shikamaru, who still appeared to be sleeping but was hiding a very small smirk with his arms.

Next to him was a slightly chubby boy who shook his head incredulously at the interaction between the two of them. Akimichi Chōji was well used to the bickering that occurred between those two and tended to tune it out, usually with a bag of his favorite barbeque chips. Therefore, he was content to softly smile as he saw his best friend send a pencil flying in the blink of an eye towards his other childhood friend and to pull out a few more chips from the bag in his hand.

By this time, Naruto had dragged himself up and wandered up to the row behind Sasuke. He threw himself into a seat directly behind his best friend and rested his chin on the desk while looking out over the room with a dreary expression on his face. He remained like this for a few seconds before he heard the light tapping of claws on the table, followed by the unique sensation of a dog tongue licking his cheek softly. He turned and grinned at the medium sized, white puppy that was inspecting him closely. As he scratched the puppy's head, he pulled himself up and said, "Hey Kiba, I think you lost something."

Sitting in the back row of the classroom was another young man, wearing a wooly jacket and whose face was adorned by twin red marks. He smirked and accepted the puppy that Naruto held out for him. "Nah, he was just on sleepy head patrol. He's just as anxious as the rest of us to get through the graduation exam," Inuzuka Kiba said as he flipped over the young pup Akamaru and began scratching his belly. Turning to the youth sitting next to him, he said, "We could all take a lesson from Shino here. He's got relaxed down to an art."

Adorned with a thick cloak and sunglasses even though it wasn't that cold and he was indoors, the shoulders of Aburame Shino twitched in the slightest hint of a shrug, and he said, "Relaxed has nothing to do with it, Kiba. I'm sure we'll all do fine on the exam. Why? We wouldn't have gotten this far if Iruka-sensei didn't believe we were ready for it."

The dog trainer chuckled and shook his head slightly, "Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to how you talk, but I like the way you think," he replied, and Akamaru added a bark in the affirmative as well. In the row in front of Kiba sat another female youth, this one with dark hair that was close to the color of purple in the right light as well as pale eyes. Hinata Hyūga did not say a thing but merely giggled at the interaction of the boys in the class.

Any further exchange was cut off as the door opened again, and an older ponytailed man walked in, clipboard in hand. Looking over the room and finding everyone to be present, he nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, class! I hope all of you are ready for the graduation exam," Umino Iruka said loudly, "Today, you will be asked to produce three clones using the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)…"

A snort came from the first row, following by Shikamaru saying in a muffled voice, "This is so troublesome."

Iruka coughed and glared at the boy, whose head was still buried in his arms but was now at least awake. "Shikamaru, if you would please not interrupt me, I'd appreciate it," the teacher snapped.

That got the young Nara to finally sit up and address his teacher. "Iruka-sensei, you've taught us for five years and made us do that troublesome Bunshin no Jutsu like, five hundred times. In addition, we all have abilities and skills that we have learned through our various classes that are much more difficult to master than that E-class technique. Shouldn't you know if we can do the technique by now? And wouldn't it be more beneficial to test us with a more challenging exam?" he countered, "I mean, let's be real here. Naruto has the chakra level of an Uzumaki along with a giant pool of near unlimited energy called a tailed beast in his gut, and he can't even muster up one normal looking clone, but he can do a bunch of difficult techniques. This test makes no sense." Naruto piped up in indignation when Shikamaru began to bash his abilities but quieted down when his better aspects were revealed.

Iruka opened his mouth to respond, but knowing he could go on forever and not win the argument, he decided the best course of action would be to continue the exam explanation. Coughing slightly, he stated, "As I was saying, when I call your name, please go next door to begin your exam. First up…Aburame Shino." The named youth quietly arose and followed the exam proctor out of the room, only pausing to glare at Kiba through his sunglasses for the 'good luck' clap on the back he received.

The room slowly emptied over the next thirty minutes, and finally, the son of the Hokage was one of the few people left in the room, leaving him in an increasing state of anxiousness and hyperactivity. When he heard a shout of "Uzumaki Naruto!" from the next room over, he practically shot out of his seat and dashed to the door. When he entered the next room, he saw that Iruka was seated at a table near the opposite wall, along with two other teachers. One was a man named Mizuki, who gave Naruto a slight smile that he returned happily. The other was Hyūga Hizashi, the brother of the head of the Hyūga clan, and his Byakugan was currently activated. The latter also smiled and nodded to the young Uzumaki, who grinned back widely.

Iruka finished writing something down and looked up at the blond boy, who was practically hopping up and down in excitement. "Alright, Naruto, please use the Bunshin no Jutsu to create three passable clones."

The genin prospect immediately brought his hands up into a handseal, with two fingers on each hand crossed, an action that was not lost with the three proctors. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" he exclaimed. With a small "poof!" three perfect clones appeared around him.

Iruka looked over to Hizashi, who examined the three clones for about thirty seconds using his Byakugan before nodding his approval. He then looked to Mizuki who gave an amused smirk before waving his hand. The scarred teacher gave Naruto a knowing look but then said, "Excellent job, Naruto. You pass!" as he smiled approvingly. All four Narutos jumped up and down in happiness and started shouting happily.

"Yeah, we did it!"

"Suck it Sasuke!"

"Hokage seat here we come!"

"Who da man? We da man!"

Sitting on the table in front of the proctors were a few forehead protectors sporting the Hidden Leaf Village's insignia that had not been claimed by recent examinees. Iruka picked one of them up and approached the celebrating blondes. After a few seconds of watching some strange celebration dance, he finally had enough and shouted, "Naruto!" in an attempt to get the original's attention.

They all stopped in mid dance and turned to face the young teacher. "Yeah, Iruka-sensei?" all four of them said in unison.

"Naruto, cut it out. Which one of you is the real one?" Iruka asked exasperatedly.

All four copies of the blonde frowned slightly, and three of them disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving only the original. "You take all of the fun out of things, Iruka-sensei…" he muttered grumpily.

"It's my job," he retorted, "Now do you want your headband or not?" He held out the headband, and Naruto eagerly took it. Within no time, it was securely fastened behind his head. "Now get out of here," the scarred man continued in a joking manner, "Believe it or not, you aren't my only priority today, and I imagine your parents are dying to find out if you passed." Naruto grinned cheekily and all but ran out of the classroom, not noticing the calculating look sent at his back.

When he reached the entrance area of the academy, there were a few people waiting for him. Sasuke was chatting with Hyūga Neji, the elder of the two Hyūga genin. As he approached, both broke out into light laughter at something the young Uchiha had said. His mother was talking with the head of the Hyūga clan, Hyūga Hiashi, who had come to pick up his daughter Hinata, who also passed the graduation exam based on the forehead protector secured around her neck.

Kushina smiled widely when she saw her son running up and opened her arms to allow him to hug her tightly. "I see you passed!" she exclaimed.

"You better believe I did!" he shouted back happily. Pretending to have discovered a great secret, he motioned at Sasuke's headband and added in a loud whisper, "Sasuke didn't pass, Mom, but they felt sorry for him so they let him have a souvenir headband."

Sasuke scowled and retorted with, "At least I didn't pass because I was too ugly and they wanted me out of the room because their watches were quitting on them." Both boys glared at each other for a few seconds before their scowls melted into grins, and they gave each other a high-five.

"Okay, that's enough, boys. Let's get home before you two start fighting again," Kushina said strongly, "Besides, I left your lunch going, and I don't want it to get ruined because you two held me up." Both boys' eyes lit up at the prospect of food, and the red haired woman could only roll her eyes as both started on a mad dash back to the Uzumaki residence. 'I swear, those boys will be the death of me,' she thought as she began to follow them at a more casual pace, pausing only briefly to bid farewell to the Hyūga family.

…xXx…

Meanwhile, the remaining students had finished their graduation exams, and the proctors had convened in the main conference room of the Hidden Leaf Village's administrative building, minus Mizuki who had an errand to run. Minato joined Iruka and Hyūga Hizashi in sitting around the overly large table. Iruka opened a folder and handed a piece of paper to each of the people in the room. "Here you are, Yondaime-sama. The list of academy graduates and the new class of genin for this year." Hizashi was already examining a folder similar to the one Iruka had just handed Minato.

The blonde Hokage examined the list of graduates, and a large grin broke out on his face as he saw both Naruto and Sasuke's names among those who graduated. "This looks like a good batch of new genin. Are there any major surprises among those who graduated or who did not graduate?" he asked the proctors.

Both of them shook their heads, and Hizashi added, "Not at all, Lord Hokage. We might need to move a few of the graduates around here and there, but overall, the proposed teams that we compiled last night should work out well."

Minato nodded with satisfaction and laid the list on the table in front of him. "Excellent. Iruka, Hizashi, if you could, make any adjustments you see fit with the teams, gather up the jōnin instructors, and give them their team assignments by the end of the day." Both teachers nodded and took their leave after gathering up their things. The blonde Hokage picked up his own documents and walked upstairs to his office, immaculately organized compared to the chaos that resulted from the 'cleaning' done by his wife and son. After a few moments, he seemed satisfied with the placement of the files, so he pulled out a tri-pronged kunai from a pouch and was gone in a golden flash.

A few seconds later, the door to the Hokage's office slammed open, and Mizuki stumbled in, starting to apologize but stopping once he saw that no one was in the room. Instead of growing scared at the thought of punishment for missing a rather important meeting, the silver haired chūnin sneered and quietly shut the door to the conference room. A moment later, the door opened, and Uzumaki Naruto emerged. Carefully looking around, he saw nothing out of place, and he headed for the stairs that led to the lower, more secure levels of the main building of Konohagakure.

…xXx…

45 minutes later, two young teens and the head of the house rested comfortably in the living room of the Uzumaki household, their stomachs bursting at the seams from all of the food they had eaten. Minato was propped up in a recliner, looking rather comfortable. Sasuke and Naruto didn't even get that far and were sprawled out on the shag carpet. Meanwhile, Kushina was in the kitchen, quietly shaking her head at the sheer amount of food that the men had inhaled for lunch and the subsequent amount of dishes that were left over. "They could at least have offered to help me with these," she muttered as she picked up a random piece of china and began to work.

"Now that was a good lunch," Minato breathed carefully. Content grunts from the two boys, slightly muffled by the carpet, indicated their similar approval.

A previous conversation came to the forefront of Naruto's mind, so with some difficulty he rolled over onto his stomach to ask, "Hey Dad, when are you going to give us our graduation present? You said you'd teach us something new if we graduated." While he didn't bother moving from his comfortable position on the floor and kept his eyes shut, Sasuke's ears were also trained on the elder blonde.

Minato opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by a new arrival. An ANBU agent clad in a cat mask and a tan coat suddenly teleported into the living room, nearly stepping on Naruto. As the younger boy started squawking angrily, the masked man hurriedly knelt down in front of the village leader and exclaimed, "Lord Hokage! We tried to stop him, honestly we did, but ten minutes ago, your son absconded with the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques! We need to find him immediately. Do you know where he might be?"

Evidently almost being stepped on didn't qualify as being recognized as well, as Naruto quickly leapt to his feet, got into the face of the ANBU agent, and indignantly spat, "Excuse me?!" Sasuke merely rolled his eyes, while Minato's expression was a mix of surprise and embarrassment at his son's actions.

When she heard all of the commotion, Kushina had poked her head into the room, and with a puzzled expression, she said, "Jaguar…while I fully believe my son would do something like that…"

"Hey!"

"There's no way he could have taken that scroll. We've been with him for the past hour."

The ANBU agent codenamed Jaguar had recoiled slightly at Naruto's exclamation, and with the addition of the redheaded woman's comment, it finally seemed to hit him that Naruto wasn't the true culprit. Even with the feline mask adorning his face, everyone in the room could tell he at least had the decency to be embarrassed. "Yes…well, I understand that now, Lady Uzumaki, but there was someone in the scroll library taking that scroll, and my patrol identified him as Master Naruto." He turned to Minato, who was sitting in his recliner, and said, "Just as a matter of protocol, I need to search his room and the home. Lord Fourth, you are welcome to join me." Minato nodded tersely, and the two disappeared up the staircase. Kushina returned to the kitchen, absently waving a sudsy dish around and sending small soap bubbles flying everywhere.

They were not gone long, as Minato and the ANBU agent returned a minute later with the scroll in hand. "Well, apparently the impostor decided to plant this in Naruto's room while we were either eating or digesting," Minato said grimly. He turned to the ANBU and asked, "Please tell me you managed to get a hit in on him before he got away?"

Everyone in the room heard the agent chuckle, and Naruto knew that under the mask, he was smirking as he said, "Yeah, I did. He tried to use that Oirike no Jutsu (Sexy Technique) that your son invented awhile back, but I like to think that I have more willpower than that…"

Naruto and Sasuke shared a skeptical look as they remembered some of the more perverted men of the village who had fallen victim to Naruto's favorite pranking technique, and Naruto added dubiously, "Sure you do, pervert."

Jaguar coughed and continued, "…so when he dispersed that, I launched a good kick at his head that he tried to block with his wrist. Needless to say I heard a nice crack before he dropped a smoke bomb and escaped."

The Fourth Hokage sighed but nodded in approval. "Well that at least gives us a place to start. I wouldn't worry about it too much, since we have the scroll back, but assign one of your teams to the hospital in case our boy tries to get treatment. I still want him brought in for questioning." Jaguar nodded curtly before disappearing silently. Minato slumped back down into his chair, the forbidden scroll having been propped up against the table next to him.

After a few seconds, Minato hopped to his feet and looked at the two young men in the room with him, whom were now both sitting up. The look on his face indicated that he had just come to a great revelation, and both boys looked back at him in confusion. Hoisting the scroll into his hands, he said, "Are you ready for your graduation present?" Naruto's face broke out into a huge grin, and the young Uchiha, while trying to retain a face of neutrality, also had a small grin on his face. "Technically I shouldn't be doing this, but I know Sasuke is dying to learn the Shadow Clone Technique, and Naruto can help with that while he upgrades up to the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. If you two want, as soon as I find Mizuki and get his report on the graduation exam, we can go and practice until dinner."

The Hokage's son was quite literally shaking with excitement, and even Sasuke had a grin of pleasant surprise on his face until everything that his father had said had processed. "Wait, Naruto knows how to make Shadow Clones?" he asked, a slight frown appearing on his face.

Minato deferred to his son, who now had a peeved expression on his face. "How else did you think I passed the graduation exam?" Naruto exclaimed indignantly, "That dumb fox's chakra won't let me make any normal clones, so I had to fake it. They just said I needed to make three clones, so I did it. Just not exactly what they wanted."

In his head, he heard a low growl of, "**Watch it, idiot. I'll show you what it means for me to mess around with chakra.**" His complete ignorance of it only served to make the fox angrier, giving its container a good amount of amusement.

Naruto's housemate shook his head in amazement. "Only you would think to do that," he said ruefully.

"Don't let him claim all the credit, Sasuke. I might have helped him a little bit," Minato added, "Now, let's get going to Mizuki's place. Hopefully this won't take too long. I was planning on having a short day today." With the scroll in his hands, he walked to the front door and opened it, allowing his two sons to walk out before he shouted back into the house, "Kushina, we'll be back in time for dinner, alright!" Hearing an affirmative response, he followed his sons out the door.

While Minato and his wife did not have any desire to have a giant mansion for fear of losing track of a young and mischievous Naruto within, they did have a decent amount of money saved up, so the home that they had purchased was in one of the newer housing developments in the village. Ninja whose income was lower usually opted for the cheaper apartment style housing that was scattered around the village.

That is where the three men of the Uzumaki household were now standing. Minato pulled out a small pocketbook and flipped to a certain page, confirming the location of Mizuki's place. He turned to the two boys and said, "You two can stay down here. I'll be back in a second…"

He was unable to complete that line of thought, as an explosion ripped through the upper levels of the building. A figure shot out of the smoke and down onto the street. The ANBU agent from earlier landed on the street opposite of the figure from the new arrivals to the scene.

"What's going on here, Jaguar?" Minato shouted across the street.

The cat-masked ANBU turned and saw the village leader and waved frantically, just as the mysterious person began to emerge from the crater. "Lord Hokage! I found the intruder from earlier! I received a report from one of my patrols of someone with a broken arm clearing out their living space, so when I went to investigate I discovered it was…"

"Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed in shock, interrupting the ANBU agent before he could finish. All four males observed as the silver haired man, armed with two large Fūma shuriken in a back holster and favoring his arm, emerged from the crater. Blood trickled down his head as an audible growl escaped from his lips and he examined his surroundings. His broken wrist was somewhat stabilized by a makeshift splint, and he was now wearing his bandana-style forehead protector.

"Damn, this is not what I needed," the chūnin instructor growled. Turning to the source of the one who had called out his name, his eyes widened as he saw the Fourth Hokage standing along with Sasuke and Naruto, and he started to carefully weave signs in order to not aggravate his arm. "I need to act fast!"

Acting quickly when he saw that, Jaguar shouted, "Hold it!" as he finished a quick string of handseals, ending with "Raiton: Shichū Shibari (Lightning Style: Four Pillars Binding)!" Because of his impaired arm, Mizuki was unable to finish his own technique in time and was trapped by four rock pillars that shot out of the ground around him. Electricity sparked to life between them, forming an electric cage around the criminal. The feline-masked ANBU agent then quickly reversed his signs into a different string, exclaiming, "Yaekōin (Multilayered Restraining Seal)!" simultaneously slamming his left palm into the ground. An array of seal marks jumped across the ground and wrapped around the lightning cell, effectively sealing off Mizuki from the outside world.

Unfortunately, the criminal was undeterred. As he finished the string of signs, he pulled one of the shuriken off of his back, bit his tongue, and wiped some of his blood on the weapon. Immediately, he was soon holding a chakra-empowered blade.

Minato's eyes widened when he saw this, and he thought, 'Mizuki shouldn't be capable of a technique like that!' Out loud, he shouted urgently, "Jaguar! Get my kunai in the air!" The ANBU agent nodded, and as he pulled out one of Minato's special three-pronged kunai, the Hokage began to form a swirling sphere of lightning based chakra in his hand.

"Naruto…is that…" Sasuke asked, a look of shock and amazement crossing his normally stoic face.

"Yeah…my dad's Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere) technique…" Naruto responded, "He only pulls that out in special situations…"

Mizuki heaved the glowing shuriken at the 'ceiling' of the cage, and it sliced through the tendrils of lightning like they were nothing. He leaped up and grabbed the shuriken, only to be hit in the shoulder of his good arm with a kunai. He had no time to react as Minato warped up, the kunai in hand, and shoved the sphere into Mizuki's chest with a cry of "Raiton: Rasengan (Lightning Style: Rasengan)!" The sphere erupted into a swirling cacophony of lightning, but Mizuki didn't appear to be phased by it. Instead, his body began to melt into sludge and shot onto the surprised Hokage, wrapping around him and restricting all movements. He fell to the ground hard and stayed there, unable to move as the mud hardened into a hard cocoon.

"Lord Hokage!" Jaguar cried out. He made an attempt to jump towards his trapped leader, but a kick to the back sent him to the ground, and he was trapped by two chakra-fueled kunai that impaled his palms.

"That's payback for my arm, you bastard," Mizuki muttered darkly, having been hidden amongst some shrubbery since the explosion. He walked away from the downed ANBU after spitting on his face and slowly approached the trapped Hokage, who was unsuccessfully trying to free himself from his dirty restraints.

"Why, Mizuki?" Minato exclaimed urgently, "What happened to make you want to steal the scroll and betray the village?"

The silver haired chūnin continued to slowly walk over, not saying a word, until he was standing right over the Hokage. He looked down at the trapped man for a moment before he pulled out another kunai, wiped some blood on it, and infused enough chakra to double the length of the blade. "Because I got a better offer elsewhere," he muttered ominously he reared his good arm back and prepared to ram the knife into the Hokage's chest.

"Not so fast!" a voice behind him shouted angrily. Mizuki spun around and saw Naruto and Sasuke flying through the air towards him, both armed with their own kunai and both looking ticked off.

Momentarily caught off guard, the traitor recovered and shouted with a sneer, "Sen'eijashu (Striking Shadow Snakes)!" If possible, Minato's eyes widened even more when he heard the name of that technique, but he couldn't do anything as snakes shot out of Mizuki's sleeves and trapped the two surprised teens back to back in a tight coil. Naruto was lucky to get a shot off with his kunai, but it missed the rogue and bounced off of one of his father's restrictive coating. Other than a small dent in the cocoon that quickly refilled, it didn't appear to cause much damage.

"Damn pests…" Mizuki growled, ignoring Naruto's exclamations of his hatred of snakes. He turned back to the trapped Hokage, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Now, let's try this again." His good arm swung the kunai downwards one more, but he was once again interrupted, this time by the arrival of another to the scene.

"Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Empty Palm)!" Hyūga Hiashi shouted, as a blast of pure chakra shot out of his outstretched palm and hit Mizuki right in the chest. As the traitor crashed through the wall of a nearby building, the Byakugan user knelt down and started to channel chakra into the mud cocoon surrounding the Hokage. Before long, he was able to cut away enough of the sludge that Minato was able to slip away, and with nothing to bind, the mud melted into a pile of dark liquid.

Accepting the proffered hand, the blonde stood to stand with his friend. "Thanks, Hiashi," he breathed in relief, "Not to sound ungrateful, but what are you doing here?"

"Neji, Hinata, and I were at lunch nearby, and we heard the explosion when we were about to head home. I sent the two of them home while I came to see what was going on," he explained. He then smirked, "Besides, there's not much these eyes don't see." Minato just nodded knowingly and released a small chuckle.

Hearing a light rumbling, both turned to look across the street, where Mizuki was trying to dig himself. Finally he was able to yank his leg free of some plaster, and he did not look happy. "I'm really starting to get tired of all of these interruptions…" he growled. With his good arm, he made a half-tiger sign.

Minato and Hiashi were about to carefully walk towards Jaguar to try to free him, but the pile of sludge shot up around them and threatened to engulf them. Minato, thinking fast, threw his kunai away and warped to it, and while Hiashi was trapped, he didn't appear to be too concerned about it. As the Hokage landed near his ANBU commander, the Hyūga leader burst out of the cocoon as he expelled chakra from his entire body, looking rather smug.

Meanwhile, the look on the rogue's was that of complete surprise and fear, and he apparently decided that escaping with his life was better than fighting to the death because he made a leap for the rooftops, but a kunai was thrown right in his path, and the Hokage was soon behind it. Minutes later, an unconscious Mizuki was tied up and leaning against the wall. Standing over him, Minato was joined by Hiashi and his head black ops agent, whose hands were wrapped up in some gauze. "Alright, that's taken care of. Jaguar, I trust you can take care of him from here?" he asked of the injured agent. The ANBU nodded and started talking on a headset, asking for a prisoner transport team, while the turned to the head of the Hyūga. "I appreciate your help, Hiashi. I shouldn't have let it get that far."

"It was no problem, Lord Hokage," Hiashi waved him off, "We would do it any time." He motioned for Minato to move away from the kids, whom he had freed after Mizuki had been neutralized, and once they were far enough away, he asked in a serious tone, "Were those snakes I saw?"

Minato nodded, though his face didn't express any worry. "Yeah, but I wouldn't worry about it. Ibiki will get anything out of him that he knows. That old snake wouldn't risk coming back here." Hiashi looked satisfied and bid his farewell to Minato and the two boys. Minato turned to the two and asked, "Well, are you ready to learn some new techniques, boys?" The grins on their faces gave him his answer all too quickly.

…xXx…

AN: Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of a hopefully epic saga. Please review and stay tuned!

A bit of information about how this story will be carried out:

-As you can tell, this is an alternate reality where Naruto has a family and Sasuke isn't left on his own. The presence of Minato and Kushina will have a cascading effect on the other characters in the story, and I will be explaining how they came to survive as it becomes relevant.

-The characters themselves are quite different in one major sense. I always thought that the characters in the series were way too young, and I have made an effort to correct that here. The age of the ninja in Naruto's graduating class is 17, allowing for realistic dating and dealing with the situations of the ninja world (therefore making Neji/Lee/Tenten's class up one to 18).

-I will make every attempt to address as many comments as possible that you wonderful readers leave me, but I will steadfastly refuse to address any inflammatory comments, as well as anonymous comments. If you don't like the story, get over it and read something else, don't waste my time or yours.


	2. (Intro Arc 2) Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Introductory Arc) Chapter 2 – Enter Hatake Kakashi! Team 7 is Born!

A couple of days after the graduation ceremony and the mess involving the traitorous Mizuki, a certain young Uzumaki and young Uchiha found themselves in the administrative building of the Hidden Leaf Village, each clutching a file folder with their respective name on it. As both were regular guests in the building, the receptionist in the lobby waved them by without a second glance. Running up the stairs towards the office of the most powerful man in the village, when they reached it, Naruto burst in unannounced, completely ignoring the ANBU agents stationed outside, who had sadly come to expect this kind of behavior. Sasuke nodded briefly to them and followed the hyperactive blonde in just in time to hear him shout, "Hey, Dad! Here's my profile for the yearbook!"

Minato was sitting at his desk, deep in concentration as he scanned some various documents and scrolls as well as mission reports on his laptop, and without missing a beat or looking up he said, "I'd better not have to send you back to the photo studio because you took a stupid picture, Naruto." The young blonde's face took on a grumpy frown as he stalked across the room and gruffly handed the folder to his father. The Hokage took a moment's break from his work and opened the manila envelope. After taking a quick glance at it, he was satisfied with what he saw and set it on a pile of other profiles. "Sasuke, here I'll take yours, too," he added, and the young Uchiha immediately obliged, handing his dossier over without any fanfare.

As Minato took the profile of his son's best friend, he set on top of the others without a second thought, and Naruto's grumpy expression soured further as he observed this. "You didn't even look at his profile, Dad. Talk about favorites…" he mumbled, only being somewhat serious.

The elder blonde was about to respond, no doubt with a similarly snarky response, but he was interrupted by the door to his office bursting open. All three occupants turned their gaze in that direction as a boy, no older than 13, dashed in with a shuriken in his hands, yelling, "Let's go Uncle!" The intruder caught father, son, and family friend all off guard, but once they got a good look at the boy, their expressions shifted from shock to varying levels of amusement or exasperation. The severity of the threat was downplayed even further as the kid tripped over his long scarf on the way in and fell flat on his face. It wasn't lost on the elder boys that the ANBU agents were ever so slightly shaking their heads in disbelief as they shut the doors to the Hokage's office.

Everyone in the room groaned internally as they all thought the same thing, 'It's Konohamaru…'

Moments later, a tall man burst into the room. Adorned in a standard flak jacket, black body suit, and bandana style headband, he shouted, "Honorable grandson, just what do you think you're doing? You are wasting precious time that we could be spending furthering your educa…"

"Oh shut up, you loser!" the boy named Konohamaru interjected loudly, "I haven't learned something new from you in weeks. Time for some real action!" As the scorned teacher spluttered in indignation, the young man turned his attention back to Minato, who looked more amused than scared, shouting, "Are you ready, Uncle?" He had managed to pick himself up off of the ground by this point, and he prepared to chuck the shuriken once again, but right before he let the projectile loose, he saw Naruto standing near his father, and all thoughts of his surprise assault were lost. "Boss!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

The blond genin grinned down at the young man. "I was just turning in my personnel profile. I'm now officially qualified to go on super secret missions!"

"I'd love to see you try to do a 'super secret mission' sometime," Sasuke deadpanned from his side, as Konohamaru gazed star struck at his idol. The hyperactive genin merely stuck his tongue out at his friend as he turned to his father and said, "I'll see you later, Dad! Come on, Sasuke! I'm starving!"

"Chill out, Naruto. Ichiraku won't be sold out, especially if they know you're coming," the young Uchiha said flatly, "There's no need to be in such a hurry."

Their voices quickly faded, but Minato managed to catch an exclamation of, "That's not funny!" accompanied by a look of sheer horror, before the teens fell out of earshot, and he enjoyed a quick laugh at his son's expense.

By this time, the tutor Ebisu had made his way over to the elder blonde's desk and was falling all over himself trying to apologize to Minato for the disturbance. "My sincerest apologies, Lord Hokage. I just went to the bathroom for a few moments and he disappeared from my sight and…"

He continued to babble for a few seconds, but his superior interrupted him, mostly because he had heard it all before and wasn't interested in having his day wasted away. He held a hand up to interrupt the stream of nonsense streaming out of the jōnin's mouth and said, "Uh, Ebisu...I appreciate your efforts to continue the education and care of your student, but…I'd just like to point out…your student isn't here anymore…" Minato was almost immediately greeted by a perverse feeling of pleasure at seeing Ebisu's face shift from a stark white to a deep red flush to finally setting on a purple haze of anger as the tutor's rant came to a screeching halt. An unholy shriek erupted from his mouth as he ran out the door, presumably to chase the teenagers to Ichiraku.

The blonde Hokage allowed himself a small chuckle as he thought, 'The best decision of my life was not allowing that man anywhere near Naruto…,' before resuming the work laid out in front of him.

...xXx...

Naruto pushed his final bowl of ramen forward and sighed contently. The owner of the stand, Teuchi, and his daughter Ayame were well used to how much the young blonde could pack away, but even sharing meals with him on a regular basis did not allow the young Uchiha a complete understanding of the depths of the Uzumaki's stomach. His dark eyes moved to the counter, and he shook his head in utter amazement. Yes, he confirmed to himself, there were seven large ramen bowls now stacked in front of his friend, while he only had one empty large bowl lying in front of him. "It's unbelievable and somewhat disgusting how much ramen you can consume, Naruto," he murmured.

"You're just jealous," the blonde sneered back at him, patting his full stomach.

The young Uchiha waved him off. "That's not exactly the word I'd use to describe it," he muttered as he threw enough money on the counter to cover both of them, being his turn to pay for lunch.

The two young genin got up from the small stand and walked out into the street (in Naruto's case, waddled). They made to head home, but the sharp eyes of the Uchiha caught an anomaly: an oddly lumpy patch of brick on a nearby office building made of cement. He lightly tapped his stuffed friend on the shoulder, and the blonde's eyes shifted to the indicated spot. Rolling his eyes, he stalked over to it and stood there for a few moments, hoping that the 'wall' would give up and reveal its true identity. When it didn't, he stalked over and kicked the lumpy piece of wall hard, earning a muffled yelp in response. "I can see you, Konohamaru! That's not doing anything to cover you!" he shouted angrily, "It helps if you use the right side of the camouflage!"

The piece of cloth fell away, revealing the young Sarutobi, and both of the older boys noted that even if Konohamaru had chosen the other side, it wouldn't have helped very much because the other side was bright pink. The younger teen ran over with a look of awe on his face. "I expect only the best from you, boss! You saw right through that disguise!" he said, ignoring the incredulous looks that both older boys gave him. "Are you free right now? You have to teach me that Oirike no Jutsu (Sexy Technique) that you've been telling me about! Please, please, please!"

Since he technically did not have anything that he had to do and therefore could not deny the youngster in good conscience, Naruto sighed, told his friend he'd be home later for dinner, and grabbed his young protégé by his scarf. "Okay, Konohamaru, let's get this over with…"

...xXx...

"Where is that ruffian?!" Ebisu shouted to no one in particular as he looked all over the city for his student, to no avail, "How have I not found them yet? There can't be that many boys running around in orange jumpsuits and scarfs!"

The only response he earned was from the tenant of the room below him shouting, "Shut up, you psycho! I'm trying to eat in peace here!"

A tenant from another apartment chimed in with, "No one wants to hear about your love of young boys! Take it somewhere else!"

Finally, a man who was nearby on the roof taking a smoke bellowed, "Get the hell out of here before I call the cops!" Having been thoroughly embarrassed, Ebisu took back off across the rooftops in search of his charge.

...xXx...

"Oirike no Jutsu!" Naruto observed as his new student was engulfed in light smoke and the transformation took place. This had to be at least the twentieth time that the young man had attempted the technique, and the blonde was trying to convince himself that Konohamaru's teechnique couldn't get any worse than his previous results. Any hope that he had of success soon dissipated along with the haze as a fat, short, ugly woman stood where the academy student had been, attempting a flirty pose but failing miserably.

Completely repulsed, the young Uzumaki exploded, "NO! You need to be thinner, cuter, taller, FEMININE!"

Transforming back, the grandson of the Hokage was pouting as he shot back, "I'm doing my best boss but it's hard! I've been trying this for an hour and I'm not still getting any better at it!"

Sensing that his younger protégé was getting discouraged, Naruto decided that it was time for a change of pace, so he relented and said, "Okay, okay, okay, let's just rest for a moment. It won't do either of us any good to get angry about this."

"Why is it so hard though?" the younger boy asked, "Isn't this just a normal Transformation technique? I can do those just fine…"

Naruto considered Konohamaru's question. The kid did have a point, and it was hard to explain the difference, but it was an explanation that he had figured out along the course of his research when inventing the technique for the first time. "This involves your mind much more than just a simple Transformation Technique." He gestured his hands towards his head. "When your teachers ask you to transform into someone or something, like a person or an object, they're asking you to transform into a definite entity, right?"

"Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've turned into Iruka-sensei," Konohamaru responded grumpily.

"We all went through it. Anyways, I based this technique off of a sexy woman, but the actual transformation only changes me into an attractive female version of myself, something that sounds easy but is a lot harder than it sounds. It helps to picture yourself when you are performing the technique instead of whatever woman you are trying to emulate. You have to be realistic with your goals." Naruto paused for a moment as he tried to come up with a suitable example. "You know how your voice never sounds the same on a recording as it does in real life?" Konohamaru nodded in confirmation. "It's a similar problem to that. You always have an idea of your physical characteristics, but when you have to apply them, it's much harder to visualize than if your subject was another person who you could look at. Does that make more sense?"

The young boy nodded, seemingly strengthening his understanding, so Naruto decided to change the subject. "Let's not worry about that for the time being. I want to ask you some questions." He gestured the younger boy to where he was sitting on a log as an invitation to join him, which is what he did.

"Like what?" Konohamaru seemed somewhat confused by that.

"Well, first off, why did you attack my dad like that? You got something on your mind?"

The younger boy's eyes shifted downward, and Naruto could tell he hit a nerve. "It's because I want respect. No one ever sees me as me. They only see me as the 'honorable grandson.' I want to become the Hokage so people will respect me and see me for who I am," Konohamaru said determinedly.

"That's bullshit." Konohamaru's head jerked up in surprise as he looked at the unusually serious face of his elder friend. "Why do you think I'm out here with you, helping you out instead of hanging out with my friends? I see you as a friend, even if you do bug the living hell out of me sometimes." The younger boy's head drooped in slight embarrassment, even as his lips twitched up in a smile, and Naruto's expression lightened slightly as he continued, "And don't think I'm teaching you all of my secrets. I have to save some for myself, seeing as I'm going to be the next Hokage!"

"Wow, boss, you're so cool," Konohamaru said in wonder, as his sadness was dispelled by the uplifting words of his idol.

Naruto jumped to his feet and grinned down at his student. "Enough of all this serious talk! Let's get back to work!"

The young Sarutobi followed his lead and expressed his confirmation, "You got it!"

…xXx…

Two hours later, the two teenagers were still practicing when they heard some rustling in the trees nearby and a shout of, "There you two ruffians are!" Naruto and Konohamaru turned around and saw Ebisu standing on a tree branch nearby, panting heavily. He didn't look pleased as he said forcefully, "I have been looking around for you two all day, and you have wasted my time long enough! Now, honorable grandson, please come back!"

"No way. How about you try this on for size! Oirike no Jutsu!" Konohamaru shouted as he transformed into a nude, attractive brunette woman with barely concealing clouds around her.

Naruto whistled and clapped appreciatively at the newfound success of his student. "Excellent form, good proportions, nice attractive pose! You've definitely improved!" he lauded his student.

Unfortunately, Ebisu covered his eyes in horror at the display in front of him and appeared invulnerable to the assault on his eyes. "What kind of vulgar display is this? Who taught this to you?" he blurted angrily, "This is most unbecoming of a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village! You should be ashamed of yourself!" The transformed Sarutobi was disappointed to see that his technique seemingly had no effect on the supposed pervert, and he dropped the illusion as he gave the flustered tutor an ugly look.

Seeing his student discouraged as he dispelled the provocative technique, Naruto's anger was ignited, and he marched up to Ebisu and shouted, "No one bashes my techniques like that and gets away with it! Let's see how you like this! Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!"

Ebisu appeared markedly unimpressed as the sunglasses-adorned ninja peeked between his hands and scoffed at the multiple blondes that poofed into existence around him. "So you know how to create Shadow Clones? That's not exactly a rare technique among the more elite of the village," Ebisu scoffed.

All of the Uzumakis smirked triumphantly. "I'm not done yet, you pervert!" he shouted confidently, "Take this! Hāremu no Jutsu (Harem Technique)!" Naruto and his clones disappeared and were replaced by a gaggle of naked, busty blond women that immediately swarmed the tutor and started hugging him and rubbing their various bare body parts against him. Ebisu was caught completely off guard and rocketed back because of the geysers of blood erupting from his nose.

"That'll teach you to underestimate my techniques, you pervy old man!" Naruto shouted as he dispelled the transformations and clones. The elder jōnin gave one last twitch and then passed out from a combination of pleasure and blood loss, thoroughly defeated by his junior. The blond genin went over and kicked the foot of the man to see if he could elicit any reaction, and upon receiving none, he smirked triumphantly.

His younger counterpart wasn't nearly as excited. "Aw man, I couldn't beat him again. Dang it! Why didn't he fall for my technique? Even you said it was perfect!" Konohamaru shouted in a frustrated tone.

"Konohamaru, you can't get to the top immediately. You have to work for it," Naruto said patiently, walking over to pat the academy student on the head, "Your technique was fine, but you have to remember that there's always room for improvement." His smile took on a more mischievous look as he added, "And don't forget you'll have to fight me once you get to the top, because I'll be there, waiting for you!" Noticing that the sun was dipping lower in the sky, he took a quick moment to check his mobile and noted that it had gotten late, so shouted a quick farewell to the younger boy and started to jog back home.

Elsewhere, Minato had observed the entire afternoon through the Hokage's all-seeing crystal ball, having decided that it was a much better use of his time than finishing paperwork that could be at a later time (such was the leisure of peacetime). 'Thank you, Naruto. You may not know the depth of what you've done for Konohamaru now, but one day you will, and he'll repay you in full,' he thought proudly before packing up the crystal ball and preparing to head home to a wonderful home cooked dinner by his beautiful wife.

…xXx…

The next day, all of the most recent graduates gathered back in their old classroom, along with their former teacher in a mirror image of the graduation exam only a few days before. Everyone was sitting in the exact same spots that they had occupied during their time as students as they discussed team arrangements.

"So, how do you think the teams will shake out?" Kiba asked. Looking pointedly at Naruto, he added, "You wouldn't happen to have any inside information, would you Uzumaki?"

The blonde's chin was resting on the desk as he grumpily inclined his back towards the dog tamer and replied, "I wish. Dad really stepped up the security in his office this past week. I couldn't get anywhere near it unless the ANBU let me. He really wants it to be a surprise."

Below him, Shikamaru rested his head in his arms, while his best friend sat next to him, contently munching on some crackers. The ponytailed teen muttered in response, "At the very least, I can about guarantee that me and Chōji will be on the same team." A faint look of disgust stained his face as his gaze shifted slightly to the girls sitting in the front rows of the class, and his voice took on a dejected tone, "Of course, that comes with being on a team with _Ino_, but I guess there's no way around that…"

His portly friend's face showed a hint of a smile as he clapped him lightly on the shoulder. "It's okay, pal. I keep telling you, she's really not that bad when she's isolated from her gaggle of girls or the class stud up there," and he jerked his thumb back at a scowling Sasuke and grinned benignly at him.

Shikamaru lifted his head slightly and added, "Yeah, she's had her eyes on someone else for awhile now. She's only interested in boy wonder here to irritate Sakura."

"Wait a second, who does she like?" Naruto asked, "That's a new one on me." The somewhat curious looks on Kiba and Sasuke's faces indicated their surprise as well.

The lazy genius planted his head back in his arms and closed his eyes. "That's for me to know and for you to find out. Besides, it's not my place to disclose that."

"At any rate, that at least eliminates Ino from being on whatever team I'm on," Sasuke admitted grudgingly, "Though that still leaves Sakura. I have never liked Hinata more than I do now…"

Kiba chuckled and said, "I don't see what the big problem is, I'd kill to have Ino or Sakura on my team. I've been trying to get one of them to go out with me for the longest time!" Akamaru gave a short bark of approval, which earned him a scratch on the head.

Next to him, Shino sat in quiet contemplation, murmuring, "I must admit I agree with Sasuke, Kiba. Why? Hinata is probably the most normal of all the girls, and my tenants are not fond of loud voices like those of Ino and Sakura." His friend made a face at him and continued to pet his puppy.

"Man, you're a real buzzkill, you know that?" the dog trainer groaned. His fellow animal user merely shrugged and remained silent.

Meanwhile, down below the boys a similar conversation was taking place amongst the females of the class. Hinata silently observed as Ino and Sakura bickered rather loudly about who was more deserving of being the teammate of the young Uchiha.

"I'm telling you, Ino, you've got no chance. You know you're going to be stuck with Chōji and Shikamaru," the pinkette crowed triumphantly.

The blonde girl shrugged and simply smirked at her friend/rival. "That's fine by me. He'll get tired of you being so close all the time and want to branch out," she retorted smoothly.

Hinata giggled lightly at her friends' antics, which drew their attention to the lavender-eyed girl. "So what about you, Hinata? Looking forward to being on a team with your favorite foxy fighter?" Ino said slyly, as both girls leaned in to hear her answer.

The Hyūga girl flushed but shot back a quick response at her friends, "While that would be nice, I highly doubt that we'd be on a team together. Both my father and my uncle seem to think that I'd be a good fit with Kiba and Shino as a tracker team, and I don't see a reason to contradict that."

"But you've liked Naruto forever, right? It'll be hard to catch his attention if you aren't teamed up with him, and outside of Ino's team, there really isn't a certainty where we'll be placed," Sakura kept pressuring her friend.

Hinata sighed and shrugged, her face still tinted a bright red. "It's like we've hit a wall where we're friends, like we all are with each other, but he just doesn't seem to notice anything past that." Her eyes began to ever so slightly tear up.

Ino and Sakura shared a look, and the blond girl said, "Well, no one ever confused Naruto for his father when talking about brains, that's for sure." She and Sakura both slung an arm around their friend's shoulders, and Ino continued, "Just give it time, he'll come around." The pinkette nodded in agreement, and Hinata managed a small smile despite her distress.

The quiet murmuring amongst the students ceased as the scarred chūnin standing at the head of the classroom cleared his throat. "Okay, graduates, today you will be meeting your jōnin instructor and learning who among you will be teamed together. When I call your name, please take note of your team leader and other team members," Iruka said, picking up a clipboard from his desk. Sakura quickly looked back and gave Sasuke a quick wave, and Ino, not one to be upstaged, winked and blew a kiss at the young Uchiha, drawing a glare from her friend for her trouble. The boy in question could only cringe and slouch in his seat.

Naruto smirked at his best friend's plight and whispered, "Sasuke, you know, this would all go away if you just got a girlfriend." The only response that he received was a glare, so the young blonde just shrugged, though the smirk persisted much to Sasuke's ire.

Iruka quickly ran through the first teams before arriving at the seventh on his list. In a loud voice, he said, "Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto..."

Naruto immediately jumped up and cheered loudly.

"...Uchiha Sasuke..."

The blond teen continued his rambunctious celebration, while Sasuke closed his eyes and exhaled in relief.

"...and Haruno Sakura!" Naruto abruptly stopped celebrating, while Sasuke's sigh turned into a cough as he inhaled sharply. Naruto's celebration was quickly taken up by the pink-haired kunoichi cheering, which coincidentally covered up the groans coming from Ino.

Iruka waited a moment for the feminine commotion to simmer down before announcing the rest of the teams. "Next is Team 8, Hyūga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba! Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chōji!" The teacher set the team assignments back on his desk and looked at his former charges, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Please remain in this room and wait for your jōnin instructors to arrive. It was an honor to teach all of you…yes, even you, Naruto," as the boy in question gestured to himself in mock surprise, "I wish you all the best with your new teammates!"

As he left the room, the students scattered around the room and acquainted themselves with their new teammates. However, the new members of Team 7 did not do that. Sasuke stood up and stiffly walked out of the room without saying a word to anyone. Naruto did not think much of it, as he went to chat with Chōji and Shikamaru, and both of the new male members of Team 10 joined in the conversation (though it admittedly was mostly Kiba, Shino just nodded at times).

"What'd I tell you?" Shikamaru said, throwing his arms up in disgust, "Me, Chōji, and _Ino_. Can't wait for that." His chubby friend chuckled as he polished off the box of crackers he had been munching on.

"Yeah, and I kinda guess it makes sense for the two of us to be with Hinata as well," Kiba added, gesturing to his new hooded teammate, "We're all sensory type shinobi, so putting us together to form a detection squad makes sense." Shino nodded his agreement.

"Which leaves Sakura for me and Sasuke. Oh joy," Naruto deadpanned, "Why couldn't we have gotten Hinata instead, she would have been so much better than that pink harpy." He immediately saw all of his compatriots gain an evil glint in their eyes, surprisingly even Shino, and started waving his hands frantically. "N-N-Not for any particular reason of course, I'm j-j-just looking out for Sasuke!"

"Suuuure…keep telling yourself that," Kiba muttered slyly, the smirk still planted firmly on his face. The blonde heard the barking laughter of Kurama reverberating through his head, and the snickering of both his new teammate and Chōji soon joined that. Shikamaru simply shook his head in disbelief and went back to napping.

"Well, I'd better go check on Sasuke and see how he's doing!" the blonde said quickly and darted out of the room. He exited the room quickly and took a breath once he was safe outside. He walked down the hall to the lavatory and found his friend with his face in the sink being doused by the faucet. Not saying a word, he walked over and patted the young Uchiha on the back, and his response was a soft groan. "I know, I know. I don't want a fangirl on our team any more than you do…"

...xXx...

"Where is that bum?" Naruto shouted angrily. It had been three hours and the other eight teams had already left with their Jōnin instructors. However...one team, specifically Team 7, was still waiting for their unknown instructor to arrive.

"You know who it probably is, don't you?" Sasuke mentioned, "There's only one person in this entire village with a habitual tardiness problem this bad…"

The blonde thought for a moment, and then the person that his friend had mentioned came to mind. "Okay, that's it," he muttered, "If it's him, I'm definitely pranking him for being so late. Let's see, what's in here that I could use?" A rather devious look sprouted on his face as he began to dart around the room looking for worthy pranking materials.

"Naruto, don't do something to embarrass us! I don't want to look bad in front of…our new sensei!" Sakura whined, hesitating at the end of her statement as she likely diverted from her original intent of saying her crush's name. Both of her teammates chose to ignore her, the Uchiha even joining in the hunt for something worthwhile, and a minute later, Naruto found what he was looking for.

"Found it!" he shouted triumphantly as he held up a chalk eraser. "Okay, this is good, now how about I put it in the door so it falls on him when he comes in?" Naruto dragged a chair over to the door to stand on and carefully placed the eraser up near the top of the door so it would fall on anyone who walked in and slid the door open.

'**So juvenile, but I admit it would be funny if he fell for it,'** Kurama thought as he watched the whole undertaking through his host's field of vision.

The excitable blonde went back to sitting, looking much more pleased with himself. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, though inside he was looking forward to the reaction of their new teacher. The lone female, still disgusted at the prank, continued her futile attempts to strike up conversation with the dark haired teen who steadfastly refused to acknowledge her presence.

A few minutes later, footsteps outside the room indicated the potential arrival of their jōnin leader. Naruto started to grin evilly as the door slid open. All that the three genin only caught a quick glimpse of the man - a tall man with a mask covering his face from the nose down; wild, gray hair; and a Hidden Leaf forehead protector covering his left eye.

All three Genin had similar thoughts. Naruto's eyes narrowed, and his lips puckered in a mixture of surprise and disgust. 'He could at least make an effort to dodge it. It's not like he wasn't expecting something from me…'

Sasuke's expression didn't change except a slight twitch of his eye. 'And this is the guy that the Fourth Hokage can't stop praising…?'

Sakura didn't make any effort to hide her shock. 'I can't believe that guy fell for that. Is he really a jōnin?'

The tall ninja took a moment to dust off and then slowly scanned the three young graduates with his lone visible eye. Once satisfied, he declared, "Well, from my first impression, I'd have to say... (the three tensed up) I hate you!"

Sakura and Naruto fell backwards in their seats, and Sasuke added mentally, 'Wow, a bit presumptuous, isn't he?'

The jōnin said nothing more and instead started to walk out of the room, throwing a remark over his shoulder, "Meet me on the roof in five minutes," before disappearing into the hallway. All three of the genin watched him leave and shared a look of disgust with each other.

...xXx...

After overcoming the somewhat unsettling first meeting with their teacher, the newly formed team reluctantly made their way to the roof of the academy. All of them were surprised to see that the elder ninja was actually there, given his earlier tardiness. While lounging on one of the concrete blocks set in front of the bench area, he was seemingly immersed in the small orange book that was partially concealing his face.

And by immersed, it appeared that he was completely out of touch with reality, the only indication that he was even awake being the odd giggles that he would release every now and then. Naruto cleared his throat in an attempt to get his attention, but the only response he received was another giggle. Only after an extremely loud cough right in the gray-haired ninja's ear did his eye shift from the pages to his students. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't notice you were here," the jōnin said nonchalantly, "This book is just so interesting I tend to space out." Before any of the younger ninja could get a look at the title, their elder stowed it into a pouch, though they all had their suspicions. "Now, let's get to know each other a little better," he said simply, "Why don't you all share some stuff about yourselves?"

"What kinds of things, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well, the usual, favorite things, your hates, dreams, ambitions, hobbies, things like that."

"Why don't you go first? We all know a little about each other, but we really don't know anything about you," Sakura stated, and both of her teammates nodded in confirmation.

The tall man shrugged indifferently. "If you insist. My name's Hatake Kakashi. I don't really want to talk about my likes and dislikes, and my dreams are none of your business," Kakashi stated lazily. As his students gave him varying looks of incredulity, he added, almost as an after note, "I do have a lot of hobbies."

"He said a ton, but all we learned was his name, and even that we knew already..." Naruto muttered in annoyance. Both of his new teammates sighed.

Either Kakashi didn't hear Naruto's complaint, or he just didn't care, as he pointed at Sakura and said, "Enough about me. Let's start with our lovely female."

Looking only slightly startled at being singled out, the pink-haired girl nevertheless launched into her self-introduction. "Okay then. My name is Haruno Sakura. While my family isn't part of a clan, both of my parents are jōnin in the village. I don't have any particular specialties like many clans do, but I have been told that my chakra is suited for genjutsu, much like my parents. I like to spend quality girl time with my best friend Yamanaka Ino, and I hate spicy foods with a fiery passion. In terms of hobbies, when all of our graduating class gets together, I am unstoppable at trivia. My dreams…" Her cheeks flushed a light pink, and she said no more. Naruto rolled his eyes, while his other teammate chose not to comment.

"Okay…you next," Kakashi said, pointing at Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, obviously of the Uchiha clan. As such, I'm skilled in the use of Katon techniques. I like learning powerful jutsu and exploring the woods around the village, but I can't stand sweet food. My dreams are to return the Uchiha clan to its former glory, and my only real hobby is training."

"Thank you, now you," Kakashi said as he pointed at Naruto, who was itching to start.

"Okay, my name's Uzumaki Naruto! I'm the product of the best of the Uzumaki clan and the most powerful Hokage of all time, as well as the host of the great and mightly Nine Tailed Demon Fox, also known as Kurama."

"**Ya damn straight**," said all-powerful fox scoffed as he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Naruto continued, "Out of anything in the entire world, the thing that I love the most is ramen! I can't stand anyone that threatens my family.

My dream is to become the next Hokage, even stronger than my dad and cooler than my mom! My hobbies are training with Sasuke and gardening."

Kakashi nodded appreciatively as his last student finished his introduction. "Good. Now that we know each other a little better (Sakura and Naruto slapped their faces in disbelief), let's get down to business. Tomorrow, we'll have our first mission, and it will involve only the members of this team," he explained.

The three young genin's faces took on varying expressions of curiosity. "What will we be doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"In short, survival exercises. You see, only 9 of the 27 graduates from this year will go on to become true ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. This is to weed out the ones that don't belong, per se," Kakashi said with a chuckle, "If you aren't up to snuff, I'm sending you back to the academy for a year."

"Oh, great, so we only have a 33% chance of becoming a genin?" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Yep! Isn't that swell?" Kakashi said cheerfully, "Okay, here is the protocol for the mission tomorrow. We will meet at Training Ground 7 at 8 AM tomorrow morning. Don't be late, and don't bother eating breakfast." He pulled out three scrolls from his belt pouch and gave them to his students before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

The young genin looked at the scrolls in their hands with varying degrees of disgust. "Okay...that was just a tad odd..." Naruto muttered.

Both of his teammates nodded in agreement, and Sasuke added, "It is Kakashi, though. Uncle Minato described him perfectly."

...xXx...

The next morning found the three young genin near exploding in anger as their teacher arrived at the training grounds...3 hours late. "Good morning, you guys!" Kakashi said pleasantly, seemingly not noticing his tardiness or the tense mood hanging over the area.

Naruto, having the least restraint of the three, shouted as loud as possible, "YOU'RE LATE!"

Of course, that didn't seem to faze the jōnin in the least. "Sorry for being a little tardy. I was helping an old lady across the street," he replied. Any retort the blonde had prepared to throw back at his teacher was thrown out the window at the sheer ridiculousness of the excuse, something else the two boys had been warned about.

As his three students tried to figure out his excuse, Kakashi put his backpack down and pulled out an alarm clock, three bento boxes, and two bells tied to strings. He placed the alarm clock and bento boxes on one of the three stumps nearby, tied the bells to his belt, and started to explain the mission, "Okay, this clock is set to go off at noon. Your task is to get these bells," and he indicated his new belt accessories, "from me before then. If you do not manage to obtain a bell, you get tied to the stump, and I eat your lunch in front of you. And since there are only two bells, I get at least one lunch."

All three genin gulped, and their stomachs growled angrily. 'So that's why he didn't want us to eat breakfast,' they all thought, growing increasingly disgruntled with their strange sensei.

"You may use any weapons you want, and you must come at me with the intent to kill. You have one hour. Begin!" Kakashi proclaimed, and the three genin dashed off in different directions.

...xXx...

Naruto jumped from tree to tree, trying to find one or both of his teammates, when he saw some movement in the bushes. He jumped down and saw his female teammate partially concealed underneath a large bush. He landed as quietly as possible next to her and loudly whispered, "Sakura!" He acted quickly when she turned around in fright and covered her mouth with his hand before she could squeak. Once he was sure she wouldn't freak and she knew it was him, he took the hand off of her mouth. That earned him a slap on the head.

"Don't ever do that again, you moron!" she hissed, ignoring his moan, "What do you want?"

Naruto grimaced as his rubbed his head as he countered with, "Do you really want to fight a jōnin on your own? We need to work together to take him down." Taking a quick glance at the clearing that the tall, silver-haired man was currently standing in, he continued, "I think I know what the purpose of this test is. We have to work together to get those bells. Since there are only two bells, the test is designed to pit us against ourselves. Now, if only Sasuke was here…"

"No need, I'm here. Now, what do we need to do?" the aforementioned genin asked as he jumped down from a tree.

"Okay, listen up. I'm only saying this once. First, we..." and Naruto started to explain his plan to his teammates.

...xXx...

Meanwhile, a few giggles were escaping from the jōnin's mouth as he read his favorite book, _Icha Icha Paradise_. Taking a moment to check his watch, he shut the little orange book and tucked it back into his belt pouch before walking across the clearing in front of him. 'I wonder where my students got off to,' Kakashi thought, 'I'm hoping that this bunch will be different than the rest, especially with sensei's son…' Some rustling in a nearby bush alerted him to Naruto's presence as the blonde shot out of the shrubbery.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, I'm taking you down once and for all!" the hyperactive genin candidate shouted as he confidently stood in front of the elder ninja.

'…or not,' ran through the jōnin's mind, and as he sighed his hand went back to his pouch to retrieve the book.

Naruto, annoyed at his sensei's behavior, charged Kakashi before he could finish the action. He aimed a kick at elder man's head but missed as his opponent dodged under it. Becoming angrier, he threw a punch next, but his opponent disappeared from sight. The follow through on the punch caused the blonde to stumble forward a few feet, and he looked around in confusion, trying to find his teacher.

"Allow me to show you the Hidden Leaf Village's Most Sacred Taijutsu!" Naruto turned his head and saw Kakashi crouched on the ground behind him with his fingers in a tiger seal. "Sennen Goroshi (One Thousand Years of Death)!" the masked ninja shouted with a mad glint in his eye as he…shoved his fingers up Naruto's ass. The face of the blonde scrunched up in disgust before he squealed and shot into the air…and promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'A Shadow Clone!' Kakashi thought as his eye widened. He caught some movement out of the corner of his eye, but he saw it too late, as five copies of Sakura quickly surrounded him.

"You can't get away from this, sensei!" they all shouted confidently. Rearing all of their collective arms back, they fired kunai and shuriken at the man surrounded by them. Surprisingly, only two made an impact out of the ten that were thrown, and four of the pink haired girls shimmered away. Unfortunately, the target of their attacks also disappeared in a poof of smoke, and the original pinkette went on the defensive as Kakashi engaged her in a battle of fists. 

Sasuke was in a nearby tree that provided a good view of the area, and when the clone was destroyed, his eyes shot to another place within a cluster of bushes. Ignoring the fight between Sakura and what he assumed was another clone, he began to weave some signs and muttered, "Got you. Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!" He lifted his hand up to his mouth and exhaled, releasing a large ball of red-hot fire that shot at the bushes he had seen something in. Right before it hit, a figure darted out back into the clearing, narrowly escaped being deep-fried.

Unfortunately, he jumped right into the path of Naruto, who had the one-tailed chakra cloak of the Kyūbi surrounding him. The young blonde took a swipe at the bells with one of his chakra-enhanced claws, but Kakashi blocked it with his hands. Unfortunately for him, chakra wasn't bound by the same rules as flesh and blood, and the claw snaked around his arm and brushed the bells. The masked man didn't like him getting that close to the bells and kicked his student away, and the bijū host landed nimbly on all fours and eyed the tall man before reengaging him in hand to hand combat.

Back at Sasuke's hiding place, the real Naruto had joined him, and both were watching the battle between the two ninja. "Looks like taijutsu isn't the way to go," the dark haired boy muttered. It was quickly becoming apparent that once their teacher realized that the chakra cloak was the only real way the demon host had at getting the bells, he began taking measures to not let the clone get too close. The Kyūbi-empowered blonde was completely outclassed, especially being a somewhat fragile clone, based on the way that Kakashi was dancing around it.

"Didn't we already establish that?" Naruto whined, rubbing his butt where he had been so rudely poked it as the memories from his poor duplicate flooded back to him.

Sasuke ignored him and started to weave signs again. "Just get ready." The blonde pouted and started a string of his own as the Uchiha finished his and fired another fireball at the two combatants.

Naruto finished his string a few seconds later and pulled both of his fists back, shouting "Fūton: Reppūshō (Wind Style: Gale Wind Palm)!" before pushing one fist forward, followed by the other. Two large projectiles of pure wind chakra shot out of each thrust and impacted the fireball, which quickly inflated to twice its previous size.

Kakashi stopped his battle with the fox-enhanced Naruto when he heard the roar of growing fire, and his visible eye widened as he saw the fireball heading at him. That slight moment of distraction gave the clone the time to restrain Kakashi in a full nelson. The fireball engulfed the two, but as all three teammates thought, nothing was left afterwards. Sakura was the next one to spot him, the clone fighting her having dispelled shortly after engaging her. The older ninja was looking a little winded at this point. Sakura took off in his direction and landed near him. Naruto, three of his clones, and Sasuke joined her a second later, cornering Kakashi in a triangle formation.

The jōnin examined his new charges, trying to figure out what their next move would be. He wasn't in for a long wait, as the three genin soon made their move. Sakura quickly and efficiency brought into existence two normal clones, and all three bared various throwing weapons. The original Naruto made one sign, and a moment later, ten blondes stood where three had been, all baring kunai in each hand. Sasuke made the same sign as his best friend, but he only created one clone, and both settled into a taijutsu pose. All of the genin stood, carefully watching Kakashi, and they all tensed up when he moved, but it was only to put away his perverted book that he had been reading. "I don't have all day. Come on, attack me!" he said forcefully.

Sakura didn't need to be told twice, as she and her copies charged straight at her teacher, who turned to face her. All three jabbed forward with their kunai in the same instant, but the more experienced ninja anticipated that and jumped over their strike, countering with a sweeping kick that connected with all three. The two incorporeal clones disappeared in a shimmer, as he expected, but he was surprised to see Naruto's face appear in pain for just a moment before the last "Sakura" disappeared in a puff of smoke. "What?" he mumbled as his visible eye grew wide.

He turned to face the others, but that was all he could say, as one of Naruto's clones had appeared right behind him and turned back into the pink-haired Genin, who said, "I've got you now, sensei!" She launched two more kunai, and this time she connected, and Kakashi didn't disappear.

"He's real this time!" Naruto exclaimed, "Do it Sasuke!"

Kakashi twirled around and faced the two Uchiha standing alone, but twin cries of "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" came not from other there, but from the mass of Naruto clones to his left. Kakashi couldn't do anything except look at the massive fireball heading his way before he was engulfed in flames.

As the flames died down, the three genin plus the remaining clones observed that all that was left was a burnt patch of land, with the two bells lying there. "There's no way this is that easy…" Sasuke said suspiciously.

"Where's he disappeared off to?" Naruto asked, his narrowed eyes showing his suspicion. All three looked around their area, but it was obvious that their teacher chose a wise hiding spot.

"Sakura, you stay back. Naruto, we'll slowly go for the bells," Sasuke ordered his teammates. While their pink-haired teammate stayed back and continued to look around, the young Uchiha and his blond teammate crept towards the scorched earth until they were right on top of the bells.

Sakura noticed the slight cracking of the ground a second before her friends and teammates reached the bells. Unfortunately, her cry of "Look out!" was too late, as both Naruto and Sasuke disappeared into the dirt and were replaced by Kakashi. As he picked up the bells, Sakura saw that the only thing that remained above ground of her teammates was their heads. He turned to face his lone, above ground student and said, "Doton: Shinjū Zanchu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique). Care to try it out, Sakura?"

"Not hardly! Get him!" she cried, as the remaining clones charged at the jōnin. However, a loud ringing in the distance stopped all movement.

"Well, it looks like time's up…" Kakashi said. He released his technique, and Naruto and Sasuke were soon able to dig themselves out of the earth, dispersing their clones as soon as they were out of the dirt. All three students looked rather disgruntled at their failure.

"Would it be needless to say that you all understand the importance of teamwork?" he asked, though he already knew the answer to his question. His three students nodded in agreement, and he smiled. "Well, then you pass! Let's go get some lunch. There's nothing in those bento boxes anyways." In his head he thought, 'I should have listened to sensei more…'

"Ichiraku, here we come!" Naruto exclaimed triumphantly. Sakura and Sasuke could only shake their heads in amazement, while Kakashi looked at his charges in slight confusion, not knowing what his wallet was in for.

...xXx...

AN: Please review and stay tuned! The current pace is unlikely to remain, as I have a few chapters already written and am revising them to fit this story.


	3. (Land of Waves 1) Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Land of Waves) Chapter 3 – Team 7 Moves Out! To the Land of Waves!

The leaves rustled in the trees in the forest as three figures darted through the forest outside the village gates, closely followed by a taller figure. Halting on a tree that overlooked a small pond and grassy patch in the woods, the three smaller ones stopped on higher branches, while the tallest came to a rest below them. "Leader to team, do you see the target?" he said softly into the microphone.

"Cherry Blossom to leader, target spotted on the far side of the clearing," Sakura murmured as her eyes trained on the target, currently lapping some water from the pond.

The taller figure's visible eye shifted to the orange animal, even though he was aware of its presence the entire time. "Alright," Kakashi replied, "Fox, take the target. Fire Flower, back him up." The other two figures nodded and shot into the clearing. The orange bundle quickly caught onto the ruse but was not fast enough to escape the two ninjas.

Naruto was holding the legs of the angry feline, but he was still having a hard time controlling it, especially due to the powerful claw slashes he was receiving to the face. "Why do we always get stuck capturing this damn cat?" he complained as his cheek was gouged by a particularly vicious swipe, "Can't its owner put it on a leash or something?"

Sasuke stood next to him, not really wanting to help. "I'd rather know why we have such stupid codenames?" he muttered in response, and Sakura nodded her agreement with that assessment. Seeing that Naruto had the cat mostly under control, the young Uchiha tapped his mike and added, "Target confirmed. The Daimyo's wife's cat has been recovered."

That statement only served to enrage the feline even more, and it began to attack with more fervor. "Stupid cat!" Naruto screeched as he attempted to dodge the cat's vicious claws, to no avail.

Sakura and Kakashi landed in the clearing with the two boys. The pink-haired girl looked about as disgusted as cut up blonde, and the jōnin could only shake his head at the antics of his knucklehead student. "Come on, guys, let's report back to the Hokage. You probably should help out Naruto as well before that cat rips him in two," he said. Both Sasuke and Sakura grimaced visibly but moved to help out the stricken blonde.

Twenty minutes later, Kakashi and Team 7 stood in the mission assignment room, waiting for their next assignment. Naruto's father sat at a desk in front of them, surrounded by scrolls sorted by difficulty and currently nursing a near-empty cup of coffee. His laptop continually flashed as new reports and mission requests came in at a hectic pace.

The Daimyō's wife, Madam Shijimi, continued to hug (or in the view of everyone else in the room, strangle) her beloved cat to a literal death off to the side, while the poor animal screeched in terror. Upon viewing this, everyone in the room minus the rather large woman unknowingly shared the same thought: 'No wonder the cat runs away so much…' After paying a hefty sum for the retrieval of her pet, the woman left with the aggrieved cat, and Minato quietly added another mission to the selections of D-ranked missions before perusing the entire list.

"Okay, Team 7, today we have weeding the garden of an injured shinobi, finding Madam Shijimi's cat again when it runs away in about ten minutes, or walking the Inuzuka clan's dog pack. What will it be?" he asked as he looked over the various D-Rank missions left on the scroll.

Naruto, who had been shaking the entire time, finally blew his stack. "That's it, I'm tired of all these piddly missions, Dad! I want a C- or B-rank mission! Let someone else find that dumb cat! Give us something that's an actual challenge for a change!" Sasuke and Sakura said nothing out of respect for their leader but silently agreed with him. Kakashi also kept his mouth shut but shook his head in a mixture of disbelief and exasperation.

The elder blonde smiled gently, recognizing his wife's explosive temper manifesting itself in their son. "Naruto, you know that you have to work your way up to difficult missions by proving yourself capable of handling the workload required of your rank. The missions are assigned different levels of difficulty based on the challenges and potential danger of the mission, and that determines who can perform them," his father explained patiently. He gestured to the scrolls on the table in front of him, "D- and C-rank missions are low risk with high turnover assignments ideal for genin level ninja, C- and B-rank are chūnin level missions that might pose some amount of danger to the ninja who perform them, and B-rank and above are for jōnin who can handle themselves in fierce combat." He gestured to the largest pile of documents on his desk. "We give genin a lot of these D-rank missions for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of how the village works and to build up your strength in anticipation of being sent on a C-rank mission for the first time."

The Hokage paused and thought for a moment, regarding Kakashi's team carefully and looking at a mission history for their squad before picking up a scroll from a different pile. "But...since you have done 10 D-rank missions, and you've completed them with relative ease, I think I can let you have a C-rank mission without too much worry." He quickly scanned the mission summary, and finding it to be appropriate, he turned over the scroll to Kakashi, who also began to read it lazily. "I think this mission will be perfect for your team. Protection detail is a great way to start your rise in the mission ranks. The individual in question is a world renowned architect needing assistance returning to his home." Tapping the buzzer on his desk, he spoke into it, "Come on in!"

A few moments later, the door to the room opened, and the gaze of Team Kakashi shifted over to see a partially intoxicated old man walk in, clutching a half empty bottle of sake. Despite himself, Minato was slightly embarrassed to see this, and all members of Team Kakashi groaned internally thinking about having to protect a drunkard.

"So these are the brats that have to protect me? Not much to get excited about...especially the super obnoxious-looking one in the orange," the old man commented with a slight slur. Naruto looked down at his outfit, his normal black and orange getup, and then glanced at Sakura's red and beige outfit as well as the white and black clothing that Sasuke wore and quickly realized he was the one being insulted.

"Old fart doesn't know good fashion when he sees it…" the blonde muttered angrily. Both of his teammates gave the old man skeptical looks after rolling their eyes at Naruto's idea of 'good fashion.'

The sake-wielding man smirked, obviously not insulted in the least, and said, "The name's Tazuna. I'm a bridge-builder that's super famous worldwide. I'm the mastermind behind many of the well-known bridges on this continent." None of the genin seemed all that impressed despite his proclamation, while Kakashi gave a slight nod of his head in greeting, as did his blonde teacher.

"Your mission is to escort this man back to his home town in the Wave Country, a few days' travel from here," Minato explained, "He was here consulting with some of our architects, as he is currently undertaking a massive project to link his island country to the mainland with a bridge that is without equal in this land. According to your client, there should be little to no danger, as the Wave Country does not possess a ninja village or military force of any kind and has been a peaceful sovereignty for many years. The most you possibly have to worry about are scattered bandit attacks, certainly nothing that you couldn't handle." The Hokage made a couple of notes on the mission scroll and looked towards his son's team. "Any questions?"

Kakashi looked at his charges and seeing no issues on their faces, outside of the disgust on Naruto's face and the questioning expressions on the faces of his other two students, he replied, "I think we're all set, sensei. When do we set out?"

"Take the night and pack for about two weeks. You can head out first thing tomorrow morning," the leader replied.

The gray-haired jōnin nodded and looked to his students. "It's late, and since you have never packed for a multiple week mission, take the rest of the day off. I can accompany our charge to the hotel he's been staying at for the past few days, and we'll meet at the village gate at 7:00 sharp tomorrow morning. Understood?" Seeing the affirmative nods of his team, he gestured to the slightly drunk elder gentleman who was leaning on the Hokage's desk for support and escorted him from the room. "Come with me, Tazuna, let's get you back to your hotel so you can rest up for your journey tomorrow."

As soon as the old man's hiccupping faded as the two made their way outdoors, Minato turned to his son and teammates while taking a quick glance at his cell phone to check the time, smiling at the text message that had come in an hour prior. "Well, by my estimate it's just about time to head home, and I have it on good authority that there will be a lovely meal of meatloaf and steamed vegetables waiting for us when we get back." Naruto and Sasuke's mouths were watering in anticipation; Kushina's meatloaf was known throughout the village as some of the best in the Fire Country. Minato smirked at them and looked at the lone female in the room. "Sakura, you're more than welcome to join us, Kushina always makes enough food for an army."

The pinkette looked surprised to have the invitation extended to her, and she stuttered, "A-A-Are you sure that's okay, Lord Hoka-" but she was interrupted by the person she was addressing holding up a hand in protest.

"As of right about…" and he checked his cell once again to confirm what he was about to say, "…now, my work day is done, so no stiff titles or anything, I'm just plain Minato, period." He started packing his things into the bag he took to work everyday rather quickly, wanting to get home fast.

"Yeah, just plain old Lord Hokage Dad, hero of the last two Great Ninja Wars, student of the all powerful Pervy Sage and teacher of the son of the legendary White Fang of the Hidden Leaf Village," Naruto said mockingly. He adopted the famous pose of the aforementioned Toad Sannin and imitated him, "_I am Jiraiya, master of the toad ninja arts and terror to women everywhere. You have nothing to fear from me but my student is basically a ninja god so you'd better watch out because I obviously know something or else he wouldn't be worth a crap!_"

For that, he received a knuckle to the top of his head. "Just for that, I'm telling your mother not to give you dessert," his father said good-naturedly.

"Good, more for me," Sasuke added stoically, earning a squawk of protest from the younger blonde.

Sakura watched the family dynamic at work, something she had never really seen from the village leader, and was surprised at how human they all appeared. She eventually became aware of three sets of eyes looking at her, waiting for an answer. She scrambled for her own cell phone and said, "I-I would be honored, just let me call my parents and ok it with them." Minato smiled gently and nodded to her as she dialed her house for permission.

…xXx…

Two Uzumaki males, one Uchiha male, and one Haruno female (much to her surprise) leaned back in their chairs contently, having filled their stomachs up. Kushina nodded appreciatively at the minimal amount of food left over, a sign of her family's pleasure in her cooking mastery (something that she vehemently denied at every juncture).

"Mom you just need to admit it, you are the best cook in the entire Fire Country, period," her son sighed, "Ichiraku could even learn a thing or two from you."

"That's high praise, Auntie Kushina, Naruto conceding that you even beat out his nectar of the gods," Sasuke added.

"Lady Uzumaki, that has to be some of the best food I've ever eaten!" Sakura breathed in amazement, "I'm definitely going to have to sleep this off to get ready for the mission."

"Or work it off. Sit down, sweetheart, Naruto and Sasuke can get the dishes," Minato stopped his wife, who was rising to take the dirty dishes in to clean and happily sat back down. Though both looked to be about to complain, a somewhat stern glare from Minato and a deceptively cheerful grin from Kushina changed their minds quickly. Slowly, both rose, gathered the dishes on the table, and waddled their way into the kitchen. The Hokage and his redheaded bride turned their attention to the remaining member of Team 7 reclining at the table, who was somewhat intimidated by the attention she was receiving from two of the strongest shinobi in the entire village.

"So, Sakura, we know all about Naruto and Sasuke because we've taught them most of what they know, but we don't know much about you, outside of what I've seen on reports from the academy," Minato said, "You seem to be a smart young lady. Have I heard correctly that Iruka seems to think you'd be a good talent in genjutsu?"

"That's correct, sir," she replied timidly, "My parents haven't told me much about their ninja careers, and they said they wanted to hold off on educating me until my skills became apparent so they didn't force anything on me. My dad has told me that he used genjutsu to great effect during his time in active duty."

Minato nodded as memories came flooding back to him, and he looked at Kushina as the skills of Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki came to mind. "That's right, he and your mother were a terror together on the battlefield with genjutsu, weren't they?" he asked his wife.

"Yeah, didn't they hide all of their techniques by utilizing flower-based ninjutsu and then hiding their illusions behind those techniques?" Kushina added, "Enemies could never figure out if their minds were being played with or if they were being cut to ribbons until it was too late."

Both elder ninja nodded, "Oh yeah, the only thing that stopped them were your dad's hip injury and your mother becoming pregnant with you," Minato said factually.

Sakura was stunned; sure, she knew her parents were ninja and had both reached jōnin, but to be that skilled that the Hokage and his powerful wife praised their abilities? She was definitely going to have to find out further about this. "I never knew any of this. Like I said, they don't talk much about their careers, and they said they would teach me when I found my way," she said, more to herself than her friend's parents.

Minato chuckled, surprising the pink haired girl. "That sounds like old Kizashi. I'll talk to Kakashi about this. If you're as skilled at genjutsu as Iruka seems to think you are, I think we can get you set on your way. Soon enough your parents won't have any choice but to teach you all they know!"

Sakura was frankly stunned that the leader of the entire village was going out of his way to help her so much, but remembering her manners, she stammered out, "T-T-Thank you so much! I'll look forward to it!"

The blond leader threw an arm around his wife and drew her close, saying, "What kind of leader would I be if I didn't help out the citizens of the village?"

For that he received a punch to the gut that was none too soft and a snarky response of, "A pretty sucky leader, I'd say," and the three broke out into laughter, causing the dish boys to wonder what kind of conversation had been occurring in the living room.

…xXx…

The next day, Team 7 surprisingly got on the road on time, as Kakashi showed up at the gate with a few minutes to spare before the time they had agreed on to meet. They traveled all day and set up camp just over the halfway point of their journey, so the next morning, their intended destination of the Wave Country was decently close.

Tazuna had, of course, been extremely hung over, so the first day was somewhat tedious for the group of ninja. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura alternated helping the old man walk, as he was barely in a state to be traveling. Luckily by the morning of the second day, he had sufficiently recovered, and Kakashi had made sure to prohibit alcohol to prevent the issue from recurring.

Now, the team and client were well on their way to the Wave Country, and a question that all of the ninja had in the back of their minds finally came out.

Sakura was the first to pose it, though Naruto and Sasuke had both been thinking about it for a few hours. "Kakashi-sensei, how much of a likelihood is it that we have to worry about any enemy ninjas?" she asked worriedly.

Kakashi's visible eye crinkled up as he smiled under his mask. "Since this is only a C-rank mission, it's highly unlikely. Probably the extent we will have to deal with is some rogue samurai or bandits, like sensei said a few days ago," he replied, "All of the C-rank missions that I have ever been involved in were overall rather safe and uneventful affairs." Unnoticed by anyone, behind the rest of the group, Tazuna grimaced and wiped some sweat from his forehead as they passed a puddle.

"And bandits aren't usually shinobi, correct?" Sakura pressed further.

"Bandits who boast ninja training are rare," Kakashi mused, "They often aren't called bandits if they have those abilities, they're just called missing ninja."

Once the group rounded a bend in the path, and their conversation had faded, two figures silently rose from the small pile of water that the Leaf ninja had passed. Adorned with forehead protectors from the Hidden Mist Village, their blue and black camouflage outfits were augmented by giant claws connecting the two ninjas with a barbed chain. With practiced stealth, one figure jumped onto the claw of the other and was tossed into the air over the forest. His silent descent landed him directly on the other side of Kakashi, surprising the group. The trailing chain wrapped around the silver-haired ninja as the second ninja landed through the force of his own throw, and the two rogues both whispered, "One little piggy." Yanking in opposing directions with their claw, the chain sliced the stunned jōnin to shreds.

The remainder of Team 7 and Tazuna gasped in horror and stared at what was left of their mission leader, and that moment of surprise allowed the two Hidden Mist ninja to quickly surround the genin. They raised their clawed appendages and whispered, "3 more little piggies!" as the chain quickly began to encircle the young ninja. Fortunately, Sasuke caught the ruse, followed closely by Naruto, and the two grabbed their female companion and dodged the jagged metal rope before it could claim them too. The young Uchiha threw a shuriken and drove the suspended chain into a tree. A kunai thrown by Naruto into the hole of the shuriken held it in place.

The two brothers quickly disconnected the chain connecting (and restraining) them and started to dash at the surprised kids, this time brandishing the clawed gauntlets on their hands, but Kakashi, seemingly unharmed, appeared behind the two brothers in mid-attack and disabled them with concurrent chops to the back of the neck.

"Well done, kids, nice work!" their leader said as he grabbed the unconscious Mist ninja by their shirts and threw them over by a tree, having used a Substitution Technique to escape their earlier attack.

As he tied the ninja to the tree, he turned briefly to his students and their client and said, "Give me just a second here," as he pulled up his headband, revealing the blood red Sharingan hidden below. He focused his attention back on the two assailants, and all three genin realized immediately that he was casting a genjutsu on the Hidden Mist rogues to claim information. A few seconds later, he replaced his headband and returned to the group. The gray-haired jōnin turned to Tazuna, who was nervously looking around as if he was expecting another attack, and asked, "Tazuna, I have a distinct feeling that this is more than a regular, run of the mill C-rank mission. Do you want to tell us something that might explain why those two ninja attacked us?" All three of his students were sure that he already had a general picture of what was going on from his genjutsu interrogation, but the reason that he asked was he wanted to hear the details from Tazuna's mouth.

Tazuna looked around some more and then started to explain slowly, "Yes…there is more to the mission, I'm afraid. Have you ever heard of Gatō?"

Kakashi's visible eye widened, and he asked, "You mean Gatō, the mastermind behind the marine transportation enterprise?"

Tazuna nodded. "Yes, that's the one. A couple of years ago, Gatō came to the Wave Country. He came under the pretense of business, but ever since he established himself there, he's taken all that we have, robbed us blind, reduced our country to a poverty stricken wasteland. Everyone has all but lost hope." Team 7's eyes widened in shock. Tazuna continued, though his voice began to rise in spirit slightly, "However, 3 years ago, I started building a bridge that would span from the Wave Country to the mainland. Once it's completed, our country could become prosperous again, but Gatō sends various assassins after me on a routine basis. That's why I hired you under the guise of a C-rank mission, because our country can't afford a B- or A-rank mission."

Kakashi let that entire speech soak in. After silence for a few moments, he said with a sigh, "Well, then, I guess there's only one thing to do...we'll have to continue to protect you, at least until we get to your home."

...xXx...

A couple miles away, in a denser and darker section of the same forest that the Leaf ninja were traversing at that very time, a tree house constructed around the largest tree in the area loomed through the gloom, hidden only by simple natural camouflage. Currently, a short man in a black suit entered the floating domicile, followed close behind by his two hired hands acting as bodyguards. As they entered the main living space of the structure, a tall man who was lazily slouching on a couch in the middle of the main room of the lofty home raised his head slightly and shifted his hand towards the enormous sword propped up against the armrest. While he had no shirt, he was wearing striped pants as well as camouflage leg and arm warmers. A teenager, in his late teens at an above average height, stood behind the man on the couch. He had spiky black hair, a light blue t-shirt, khaki shorts, the regular weapon holders, and a Hidden Mist headband. A hunter ninja mask was attached to his belt.

The man dressed in the well-tailored suit glared angrily at the two ninjas. "Zabuza, I expected better from your supposed 'Demon Brothers.' I just received word that they were subdued with little to no effort by the ninjas that the Hidden Leaf Village sent to protect that bridge builder. And I'm sure as hell not sparing my men to do what I paid you to do for me. So…do you have ANYTHING to say for yourself?" the short man furiously spat out.

The man on the couch grasped the long handle of his sword and casually swung it around so it was pointing directly away from him. Such was the length of the weapon that even at the distance that Zabuza was sitting from his visitors, the tip was only inches away from the short man's nose. "Gatō, there's nothing to worry about. You paid me to do a job, and I, Momochi Zabuza, will personally ensure that those bodyguards will be taken care of. I highly doubt that the Hidden Leaf Village would send any of their more powerful ninja to assist with protecting the bridge builder. They should have no reason to suspect our involvement," he drawled.

"You'd better, or else you're fired!" Gatō muttered as he shakily walked out of the room. His bodyguards shifted out after him, occasionally looking back in fear. Zabuza glared at their backs until they had left.

"What a loser. If not for the money, I would have killed that slug ages ago." He gestured to his younger compatriot, "Come on, Shiro, let's go see who these gnats are," he said as he got up and started to walk towards the back exit.

"Hai, Zabuza-sensei," Shiro said quietly, and followed his senior out the exit.

...xXx...

"Here we are, Tazuna," a man with a straw hat whispered shakily as the boat reached the shore. The traveling group had reached the coastline of the Fire Country, and until the bridge was fully completed, the only way to get to the island of the Wave Country was by boat. Luckily, it was a foggy afternoon, and in the shadow of the supports of the bridge, Tazuna's friend was able to take them swiftly and silently to the island shore.

Team 7 and their client climbed out of the boat, taking care to be aware of their surroundings. The bridge builder turned to the man and whispered, "Thank you very much, I should never have asked you to do this for me."

The man shook his head and whispered back, "No, it's okay. Just be careful," and he started to row back towards his home on the Fire Country side of the sea.

"Okay, we all need to be extra careful from here on out. I suspect Gatō will send out some more experienced assassins since those last two failed spectacularly on their mission. Be on the lookout for anyone and anything out of the ordinary," Kakashi explained as they walked along.

Not one second after he finished that statement, Naruto's extra sensitive ears picked up a rustling in the bush. Reacting quickly, he sent a kunai flying into the shrubbery where it quickly impacted with a tree trunk, square between the ears of a white-furred hare. "What the heck are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura hissed, "Do you want us to get caught?"

"I definitely heard something in there," the blonde insisted, "There's someone hiding in those bushes!"

"Yeah, a cute little bunny, you numbskull!" and with that, she whacked Naruto over the top of his head, eliciting a squeal of protest, "Now come on, and don't freak us out like that again!" The assaulted genin grumbled but continued onward behind her and Tazuna. Sasuke saw that Kakashi continued to peer intently into the bushes for a few more moments before continuing along behind his students. "Is there something wrong, Kakashi?" he asked softly.

"No, it's nothing, let's keep moving," he replied simply as they slightly hurried their pace to catch up with the other three. The whole group was far out of earshot of the small 'poof' from where the rabbit had been hiding.

…xXx…

Shiro's eyes shot open as the same white hare reappeared in front of him and his teacher. In a low drawl, he said, "I counted four ninjas from the Hidden Leaf Village in addition to the old man. The leader was a tall jōnin with crazy gray hair and a mask, and I believe he was leading a genin squad. The girl had a red outfit and pink hair, one of the guys was in white and either dark blue or black, and the other guy had spiky blonde hair and an orange and black jumpsuit."

"Thank you, Pyonsuke," the young man replied. The hare crossed his ears in a bow and disappeared with a 'poof.' He turned to the elder Hidden Mist rogue, who had an indiscernible look on his face, and asked, "Do you recognize any of those descriptions, sensei?"

"This might be more difficult than I thought," he murmured, "The description that Pyonsuke got of the leader sounds disturbingly close to that of Hatake Kakashi, and ever since the wars, spiky blonde hair immediately brings the Yellow Flash to mind. You have to wonder if that kid isn't some relative of his, even possibly his son." He paused and leaned back against the tree he was perched in with his student in quiet contemplation. Finally, he glanced at Shiro and asked, "Do you think you can occupy the attention of the three genin? If you can do that, and if I can distract Hatake long enough, we might be able to create an opening for one of us to get a shot at the bridge builder."

"I'll do my best," was the simple reply that he received.

Zabuza nodded and clapped his protégé on the shoulder. "That's all I can ask of you. Now, let's get going and see if we can get the drop on them." Silently, the two fazed away from the tree branches into the forest.

…xXx…

The Hidden Leaf group continued onwards, but all three genin became aware of the sour look on Kakashi's face, and finally Sakura asked, "Is there something wrong, sensei? You look like you're going to be sick."

The jōnin shook his head, looking like he was confused about something. "I'm just thinking about that hare we saw a few miles back."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it too…about how happy I am that Naruto's aim is terrible," the pink-haired female muttered.

"It's not my fault the stupid bunny sounded like a person moving through the bushes," the blonde spluttered, "And what kind of hare has white fur in the middle of summer?"

"That's it!" the three genin looked at their teacher, who now sported a look that was an odd mix of sudden realization and horror, "Why would a hare have a white coat in the middle of the summer? The only way that could happen is if it was kept indoors or in a cold environment until very recently…"

Sasuke was also slowly catching on and added, "Which means someone had to be caring for it as a pet…"

"Aren't you the smart one?" a voice rang out from in the trees. Everyone tensed up at the new arrival as a slicing sound cutting through the air became audible.

With his sharp eyes, the young Uchiha was the first to spot the source. "Everyone, get down!" he shouted, grabbing Tazuna and pulling him down. Kakashi tackled Sakura and pulled her down as well, and Naruto fell on top of the bridge builder. A giant sword spun through the air mere seconds later, passing through the space that would have been occupied by the team's necks and chests, and stuck high into a tree a few yards away. Zabuza appeared standing on the sword with his back to Team 7, and Shiro stood on an adjacent branch.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan. I admit, I was shocked when I found out you might be here. I never expected someone of your caliber to me on a mission like this," the rogue murmured, a bit of admiration present in his voice.

"Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist Village, what an honor. And you've gained a mini-me as well. How cute," Kakashi said dryly, and then turned to his students, "Stay back, this guy is on a completely different level than those two from earlier today." From the looks on their faces, they were not likely to make a move.

Zabuza chuckled, obviously not really caring what the Copy Ninja had to say. "Wrong, this is my apprentice, Shiro. He's been with me for many years, and I've taught him everything that I know. You'd be wise to not underestimate him." His eyes shifted to the elderly ward of the Hidden Leaf ninja. "Since I'm guessing you won't hand over the bridge builder, he's here to make sure no one interferes with our little skirmish," Zabuza said. Leaping off of his improvised standing spot, he wrenched his sword out of the tree on the way down and landed on the water, forming hand seals. "Allow me to start the fun with my specialty. Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique)!" he said in almost a whisper, raising one hand above his head and the other in front of his mouth in a sign. That was the last the bodyguard ninja saw of him, as a thick fog began to cover the battlefield, and Zabuza faded from sight, as did the younger Shiro.

Kakashi raised his headband, revealing the shining crimson Sharingan concealed underneath. Sasuke gasped in awe. "I can't wait to see him in action. I hope mine is unlocked soon…"

"Stand back, and protect Tazuna. Zabuza is a master of silent killing, so keep on your toes. I will take care of him," Kakashi snapped, and the three genin jumped back and surrounded Tazuna in a square formation, Naruto spawning a clone to serve as the fourth.

From seemingly everywhere around them, a dark chuckle began to reverberate. "There are eight targets: the throat, spinal cord, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian, kidney, and heart. Which should I pick?"

Being in between both of her male teammates, they could both feel Sakura shivering in fear, and they also heard her whimper in fear, "Where did that come from?"

"From right behind you!" Zabuza hissed as he appeared in the middle of their formation, right between the genin and Tazuna. He swung his sword, the blunt edge luckily being the one to knock Tazuna and Sakura aside on the backswing, while the sharp edge clipped and dispelled the clone. Before he could complete the swing to decapitate Sasuke, Kakashi appeared, simultaneously thrusting a kunai into Zabuza's stomach and knocking the young Uchiha backwards out of harm. Naruto jumped over to stand guard over the bridge builder, helping his female teammate up in the process. Kakashi jammed the kunai further into the Mist ninja's abdomen, but water started leaking out of the wound the kunai created, and Zabuza burst suddenly into a spray of water.

A figure burst out of the mist from another direction and shouted triumphantly, "Nice try!" as the Copy Ninja was cleaved in half by a giant sword…and promptly burst into water. Zabuza's eyes widened in surprise as he screeched to a halt after controlling his swing. 'He copied my Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique) in all this mist? The rumors must be true,' he thought, and then flinched as he felt cold steel against his throat.

"It's over, Zabuza," Kakashi stated from behind him, but interestingly, the rogue only chucked in response.

"Not quite," the rogue murmured, and Kakashi couldn't see the smirk forming on his face, "I'm no fool." The Copy Ninja's eyes widened as he realized what had happened, right as the Zabuza in front of him turned to water. Even knowing that he had been duped, he was unable to avoid taking a kick in the back. The Sharingan wielder was sent flying but did a backflip off of the ground and landed on the water of the nearby lake, breathing heavily.

"Bad move, my friend. Suirō no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)!" Zabuza shouted, forming handseals as he appeared behind the jōnin. A sphere of water rose and surrounded Kakashi and one of the rogue's arms to the wrist, completely ensnaring the Copy Ninja.

'No, I thought I could regroup underwater! Now what do I do?' Kakashi thought as he tried to figure out how to get out.

As if he could sense what he was thinking, Zabuza sneered and said, "That was a serious miscalculation, my friend. Trying to escape to the water against one who is a master of water-based ninjutsu? I thought you were smarter than that." Shifting his head towards the shore where his younger companion was, he jerked the thumb on his free hand towards the Hidden Leaf genin. "Hey, Shiro, get down here and take care of those brats."

The invisible young man nodded and disappeared off of the branch, reappearing in front of Team 7 and Tazuna. Naruto and Sasuke both quickly created a Shadow Clone each that took Tazuna and took him away to safety. Shiro watched him leave with a neutral expression on his face. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be. I don't want to hurt you. Just hand over the bridge builder."

"Like hell!" Naruto exclaimed, "Let's do this guys! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" In a flash, the five identical blondes charged at their young opponent, ignoring Sakura's cries of worry and Sasuke urging him to stop. Shiro didn't even blink an eye because as soon as Naruto's small army drew close enough, he disappeared in a blur. All of the clones were destroyed instantly, and the original was sent flying backwards at his teammates, skidding to a halt in a pile of limbs at their feet. The young Mist rogue reappeared right where he had been standing previously, smoothing his hair back calmly. However, his wrists and ankles were now augmented by what appeared to be miniature tornadoes, making a steady humming sound. The young blonde looked down and noticed his outfit now had a couple of small cuts around his midriff.

"This is my close combat specialty, Fūton: Shura Senpūken (Wind Style: Berserker Whirlwind Fist)," he said calmly, "The stopping power of a tornado in hand-to-hand combat is a near unstoppable force. I hope you're prepared to be blown away, so to speak."

Naruto had slowly gotten to his feet by now and just glared at the young man. Sasuke strolled over to him and muttered, "Let's get a plan together this time before we charge in, moron. Kakashi doesn't have an infinite air supply, so we need to figure out how to get him free, too." The blonde coughed and looked the other way for a moment as Sakura walked over to join, and the three genin huddled together. Shiro watched them silently as they made their plans, slightly curious about what they had in store.

A few seconds later, they broke apart to face their opponent. Naruto created two clones before the three orange-clad teens charged towards their opponent, intent on continuing with close combat. Sakura and Sasuke hung back to observe their teammate at work. Seconds before engaging, all three blondes focused chakra into their hands, causing them to glow with a faint green color and swirl with a spiritual wind. Armed with those chakra gloves, they began their assault on the Hidden Mist rogue.

It soon became apparent that while Shiro was obviously fast enough to keep up with the barrage he was receiving, he couldn't defend himself from the sheer amount of blows that he was on the receiving end of. The three blondes also realized this at around the same time, and they intensified their attack. Shiro soon started to focus exclusively on defense because he simply couldn't keep up with three opponents who were in perfect sync with each other. However, forcing the Mist rogue into a defensive role was only playing straight into Shiro's hands.

At the precise moment that all three fighters reared back to prepare their next punch, the tall teen pulled his fists into his body. A wall of wind swirled to life around him as he shouted, "Fūton: Bakufūheki (Wind Style: Explosive Wind Wall)!" and shoved his arms out. The wind sphere suddenly exploded outwards, shattering both clones and once again sending the original flying backwards towards where Sakura was waiting.

Sasuke was no longer there, having moved up into the trees to obtain a better vantage point. As soon as Shiro blew Naruto away from him, the young Uchiha muttered, "Gotcha. Katon: Hiendan (Fire Style: Flying Flame Bullet)!" before spitting out a quickly moving fireball at the approaching wind barrier.

Shiro wasn't fooled at all and immediately cancelled out his first barricade to create a new one, exclaiming, "Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)!" The wind broke as fast as it appeared, and a wall of water condensed into being around the young man, drawing water around from both his sensei's earlier mist creation technique and the nearby lake. The flaming bullet slammed into the water wall, and while it didn't manage to penetrate it, it created a large cloud of steam that further obstructed the battlefield.

Realizing the opening he unintentionally created, Sasuke didn't waste any time, and he hurtled through the mist towards Kakashi. Naruto and Sakura joined him a second later as they charged towards the lake.

As they neared the shoreline, Zabuza came into view, and all three genin took note that he didn't appear to be all that worried. Unluckily for them, the reason soon became apparent to them. As they all launched from the shoreline and sailed through the air towards their trapped sensei and his captor, Shiro fazed into existence in front of them. Hurriedly, he shoved his hands out in front of him in a cupped arrangement and shouted, "Fūton: Tatsumaki Bakutoppa (Wind Style: Tornado Explosive Breakthrough)!" Being in midair, the genin were defenseless against the attack, and the concussive force of a tornado erupted from the young ninja's hands and blasted them back towards the forest.

Sasuke hit the ground past the shoreline roughly but managed to get back on his feet with a quick leap off of the ground, as did Sakura, but Naruto landed more on the sandy shore and skidded along the ground. Instead of righting himself, he dug something out of his backpack and chucked it towards his male teammate, shouting, "Sasuke, catch!" The young Uchiha caught it in the air and unfolded it, revealing a fūma shuriken. Making a quick movement with his arm, he reared back and launched it at the elder rogue. At the same time, twenty Naruto clones appeared from the forest and charged at Shiro from all angles, keeping him occupied.

The shuriken homed in on Zabuza, who still didn't look worried. "Is this the best your students can do, Kakashi?" he asked, chuckling, "Childs play." He caught the first shuriken, only to open his eyes in horror as a second one appeared in the shadow of the first. "Shit…Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Technique)!" he hissed in recognition before barely leaping over the second one. He breathed a sigh of relief as he muttered, "I didn't expect your genin to be so crafty, Kakashi…"

"Oh yeah? Then watch this!" a voice behind him. Zabuza whirled around in horror and saw that the 'shuriken' was actually Naruto, who had dispersed the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) he had performed on himself. The hyperactive blond pulled out a kunai and launched it at the Hidden Mist rogue. Zabuza had nowhere to go, as the kunai was aimed right at his head, and he finally pulled the arm within the water prison free to avoid the kunai. However, he couldn't avoid a small cut on his cheek, and that was just enough to make him mad. Naruto hit the water and was quickly back afloat, but a voice above him stopped him in his tracks.

"You're dead, brat. Dead." The blonde looked up, frozen stiff in fright from not being able to maneuver easily in the water, as Zabuza swung downwards with the shuriken he had caught earlier. Luckily, though, it was blocked by the forearm protector of a freed and drenched Kakashi.

"I appreciate the help, Naruto. Excellent coordination," he panted heavily, "However, your teammates need you more than I do. That boy is powerful." The blonde nodded and ducked back under water, swimming towards the shore.

…xXx…

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura were having a rough time keeping away from Shiro, who had come back into the fight after he staved off the small army of clones Naruto had produced. The young man had reactivated his tornado fists, and while he appeared to be fatiguing a little, he was still outmaneuvering both the young Uchiha in close combat and the pink-haired teen at long range sniping. All three were running low on chakra. Shiro had put out a lot using all different kinds of techniques, Sakura had low reserves to begin with and activating the explosive tags she was using on her kunai was costly, and Sasuke had used most of his own on Katon techniques in a failed attempt to take advantage of Shiro's continued use of Fūton techniques.

Currently, the young Uchiha was back resting for a moment, while Sakura was attempting to do something in close range taijutsu, using two kunai as extensions of her hands. All of the jabs she sent anywhere near his arms were deflected by the tornados around Shiro's wrists, acting a lot like shields as well, and her attempts to attack his legs were met with the same result.

She was soon relieved, however, as Naruto barreled into the scene from the air, shouting loudly, "Fūton: Reppūken (Wind Style: Gale Fist)!" His hands, once more covered with dense wind nature chakra, collided with Shiro's fists in a loud shockwave. Sakura barely noticed him in time and jumped back right as the two teen boys collided to join Sasuke in taking a breather.

Both wind users quickly locked fists in an attempt to gain the upper hand on the other. Neither was able to for a minute or two, until Shiro noticed a red coloration leaking into the chakra around Naruto's wrists. 'What is that?' he wondered mentally. He looked up at his foe's eyes and saw that their normal blue had darkened to a demonic red, and the irises had narrowed into slits. 'Who is he?' he thought as he began to worry a little. He was even more surprised as he began to be pushed backwards. 'What?' he thought in shock, and he tried to pump more chakra into his arms, but he was met with a twinge of pain from overexerting his chakra supply.

The attention of all four young adults shifted simultaneously to the lake as the sound of crashing water reverberated through the area. Shiro suddenly said, "Well, it appears it is time for me to take my leave." He suddenly whipped out his legs and swept Naruto's own before wrenching his hands free. He made a quick sign and disappeared in a gust of wind.

...xXx...

Back at the lake, Kakashi had quickly gained the upper hand in the battle and had pinned the swordsman to a nearby tree. "Damn you to hell!" Zabuza screamed as the kunai dug into his arms and legs.

The Copy Ninja appeared on a branch above him and said in a condescending tone, "Zabuza, I can foresee your fate, and your fate is death!"

The Hidden Mist rogue growled through his pain and snapped back, "I'll get you for this…" but was silenced by the two senbon needles that sliced through his neck. He fell limp against the tree and didn't say another word.

Team 7 and Tazuna arrived in time to see a Hidden Mist hunter ninja throw the senbon that had penetrated the rogue's neck. The masked hunter jumped down and grabbed Zabuza's lifeless body, removing the kunai pinning him to the tree and throwing back to Kakashi. "I'll take it from here. Thank you for weakening him!" the hunter ninja said in a sweet tone.

'She's a girl,' Kakashi thought, but he couldn't elaborate, because the masked ninja quickly fazed away with the body. 'But still, something's not right about this...' Before he could think of anything else, he fainted because of chakra depletion.

...xXx...

AN: Please review and stay tuned!

**Review Responses:**

**justsomerealguy**: I'm going to refrain from answering the Itachi question, and I've also refrained from stating explicitly whether or not Sasuke is actually living with Naruto, simply because I haven't made up my mind either. At this point, I've implied that he eats meals there and lives elsewhere on his own, but I think I'll just end up making him a permanent resident there for simplicity's sake. I honestly don't like to bash. I feel that being creative in how I create a character's demise is frankly much more satisfying if I don't like them. I'd like to think that having parents would instill a little more sense into Naruto, and kudos if you can catch who he is interested in (should be pretty obvious). Thanks!

**Crush48**: This is the type of criticism I like, constructive and non-explosive, so first of all thank you for that. The way I've imagined this story in comparison to the real deal is that graduating from the academy is similar to graduating from high school, an end to mandatory education and a beginning to an individualized career path. You're right in that I didn't want everyone to be too old, so after the time skip, the main characters will be 20/21, around the time young people start to gain their way and have an idea of what they want to do in their lives. Most importantly, having teenagers and young adults as opposed to 12-15 year olds makes creating realistic romances and courtships a heck of a lot easier, which is honestly the reason why I did it. Age really won't come into play all that much, and I fully expect that it will become a null point rather quickly. Age comparisons will be more common that the stating of actual numbers, I just wanted to start with a baseline that I could use to compare everyone else to. I really appreciate your input though, and I hope this explained it better! I'll direct you to justsomerealguy's questions since they're mostly the same as the ones you ended your review with. Thanks!

**Rose Tiger**: Thanks!


	4. (Land of Waves 2) Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Land of Waves) Chapter 4 – The Demon of the Hidden Mist Lives! Hurry, Naruto!

The next morning, Kakashi lay covered by a sheet on a futon inside the house of Tazuna and his family, looking more than slightly uncomfortable with the predicament he put himself in. Tsunami, the bridge builder's daughter, was standing over him, fussing over him, even though he kept insisting that he wasn't injured, just tired. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were all lounging on the floor in various places around the room in light discussion. Tazuna was in the restroom, ridding himself of the hangover that had come on after he had gone on a bender the previous night.

"Really, sensei, did you have to exhaust yourself like this?" the woman asked testily, "I thought you ninja were hardier than this."

"Yeah, well, the Sharingan does that to a person," Kakashi said sheepishly, taking note of Sasuke's curiosity, "If I had the choice, I wouldn't use it, but that man left me with no other option."

"I remember hearing from my father that using the Sharingan could take its toll on the body, but you only used it for a few minutes," the young Uchiha noted in curiosity.

To answer his question, Kakashi sat up slowly and lifted his headband to reveal his hidden left eye, which was currently shut. In all the excitement of the previous day, none of the genin had noticed the thin scar that ran vertical across the center of his eyelid. "As you can see, this isn't my original left eye," he explained, "The one I have now is permanently stuck in an activated state, so not only can I not stop the chakra flow into it, my body isn't optimized to handle the stress, so it sucks my energy a lot faster than it would in an Uchiha who can activate and deactivate it at will." Sasuke nodded thoughtfully as his teacher replaced his headband over his left eye.

He looked around the room at his other students and noticed his blond student looking quite puzzled. Since he had uncharacteristically not said anything or listened to the conversation, he asked, "Naruto, is everything alright?"

Startled, the young blonde looked up and said, "Oh yeah. It's just…that hunter ninja that came in during the battle. She was so creepy, you know, and she killed Zabuza so easily when you had to do everything in your power to win."

Kakashi nodded and explained, "Yes, hunter ninja are assigned to destroy the bodies of prominent shinobi after death so the secrets of their techniques sealed within their bodies can never be used again. It's understandable why you would...think...so..." His visible eye widened when he thought about what he had just said.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"It's that Zabuza might not be dead yet!" the silver-haired man said grimly.

Naruto's eyes widened. "What makes you say that?" he inquired.

The masked man closed his eyes in thought for a moment and then said, "Think for a moment of what that hunter used to 'kill' Zabuza, and it will make way too much sense."

"She used senbon, what about...them?" Sasuke asked, and then he too realized what happened. Sakura gasped in horror as it hit her as well.

"Senbon can induce a deathlike trance when they hit the human body in just the right places," Kakashi said, "and the hunter chose to transport the body rather than destroy it on scene, like they are taught to. The only thing that makes any sense is that the hunter isn't really a hunter from the Hidden Mist, and Zabuza is still alive." Noting the shocked looks on the faces of his team, he continued, "I suspect he'll be at full power again and in position to attack again within the week, so we'll have to train to get ready for him."

_**A few hours earlier**_

The female hunter teleported into a large clearing a couple of miles from the battle and laid Zabuza down on the ground. Before she started working on the rogue's body, she took off her mask and pulled out her bun of long, black hair, freeing herself from the restraints of her guise. She pulled out a kit from a pouch on her belt and unrolled it, revealing a variety of surgical tools. After some deliberation, she selected some scissors, and moved towards Zabuza.

"I need to drain the blood out of his mouth and throat, and then I can safely take out the senbon," she said to herself as she was preparing to cut off Zabuza's cloth mask. She never got the chance to proceed further as his hand shot up and stopped her own from coming any closer.

"I can do it perfectly fine myself!" the rogue growled as he ripped away the bandages. Haku frowned at him as he carelessly yanked out the senbon that put him into the trance and spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Zabuza-sensei, please, don't pull those out any which way," the fake hunter pleaded quietly but forcefully.

"Yeah, whatever. You have the skill of a butcher, you know that?" His female student shook her head in disbelief but accepted the needles that he offered. The sound of roaring wind floated to their ears, and both of them looked towards the direction from which they had came from to see who the new arrival was. "And besides, your brother is back. Go make sure he's okay. I'm fine," Zabuza grumbled as he stretched his weak body. The young woman stood up as Shiro jumped down from the tree and deactivated his Shura Senpūken, panting slightly.

"Wow, brother, it's been a long time since I've seen you use that technique," Haku commented. The spiky haired teen just silently stared at his sister and then looked to his wounded mentor.

"I couldn't help it. Those genin were surprisingly powerful. The girl wasn't all that interesting, but I could tell she had some brains. The dark haired boy was decently strong, but he irritated me more than anything with all the Katon techniques he kept using." He winced as he thought of the third genin he fought. "The blonde, though…he was tough. It's almost like he had a second pool of chakra he was drawing from. He was able to create multiple Shadow Clones without any effort whatsoever and then keep on fighting with no effort at all. That's why I had to resort to my more advanced techniques," the young man said quietly. Zabuza slowly pulled himself up so he was sitting up on the ground.

"Okay, listen up, you two. There's no room for error. Not only do they have one of the Hidden Leaf's most talented jōnin on their team, they also have a Uchiha and the son of the current Hokage," the elder man stated grimly, "We cannot afford to take them lightly."

That tidbit of information caused the siblings' eyebrows to rise slightly. "That blonde is the son of the Hokage?" Shiro said incredulously, "He has no strategy whatsoever except to make a ton of clones and charge in."

"There's not a doubt in my mind. He's got the looks of Namikaze Minato and the gigantic pool of Fūton chakra of Uzumaki Kushina. I'd be shocked if that isn't who he is," the elder rogue stated.

"It makes sense if you think about it." Shiro glared at his sister, who continued, "He hides his real abilities behind a veil of idiocy. He spawns a bunch of clones to fight while he engages behind them with more specialized ninjutsu. Remember, he managed to trick Zabuza-sensei into disengaging his Suirō no Jutsu," Haku reminded him, "And he uses Fūton chakra, just like you." Her brother just glared at her, and she giggled. Their teacher rolled his eyes at how juvenile his two charges were acting.

"Shut it, you two. Let's get going before I pass out," he grumbled. His smirking female student and miffed male student wrapped an arm each around their shoulders, and the three disappeared into the forest.

_**Present time**_

"Okay, we'll be splitting into two groups," Kakashi said to his three genin as he leaned on some crutches. The four were out in the forest behind Tazuna's home the next day because the gray haired jōnin was still worried about their chances in a fight against Zabuza and now two of his underlings.

All three exchanged some questioning looks; what point was there to splitting up if there was only one teacher. They were quickly answered as their teacher suddenly split in two courtesy of the creation of a single Shadow Clone, complete with crutch. Sasuke and Naruto, both realizing the potential harm, were about to pipe up and say something when both copies of their sensei held up a silencing hand. "Relax, you two. One Shadow Clone won't kill me since I've had a good night's sleep, but since half of this will involve some extensive chakra exertion, I'll leave the clone with Sakura and go with Sasuke and Naruto so I won't need to keep making more clones," he explained, "Sound good?" All three genin nodded excitedly, so the clone limped over to Sakura, while the real Kakashi pointed off deeper in the woods for the male training session.

As the three males disappeared into the forest, the clone turned to Sakura and said, "So, I hear from Minato-sensei that you have some interest into really learning some genjutsu, like your father is well known for," he drawled, noting that his only female student's eyes lit up as he said that.

"I would love to!" she blurted quickly, blushing as she caught herself and spoke slower, "I'm somewhat regretting now not taking more classes in genjutsu when we were at the academy. I tried to take as many different types of classes as possible, so I know a lot of different kinds of skills but I don't have any particular specialty."

The clone was nodding as he listened to the explanation, and after she was done he said, "We're going to see what we can do about that. Your first lesson has actually already started." He chuckled at seeing her eyes widen, "Part of becoming more advanced in the arts of genjutsu is being able to sense when you are under an illusion, no matter how strong or subtle the technique is."

"But…I don't sense anything, sensei," Sakura replied, though she looked to be questioning herself even as she said that.

"That's part of the test," he replied gently, "While I am by no means an expert at genjutsu, having this Sharingan makes weaving illusions much easier, and I'm able to shield my techniques from the casual observer. I have actually cast three generic illusions of various intensities on you, and it is up to you to sense and break free of them." Sakura nodded in confirmation. "You'll know that you've broken all three when you can see a scroll that I placed around here."

"A scroll?" the pinkette asked curiously.

"I stopped by the technique repository near the village offices and picked up a scroll of some of your father's more basic illusions," clone-Kakashi replied, noting her face light up once more, "We can start with those once you figure your way past my techniques."

"Am I allowed to ask for help or talk my way through it?" Sakura asked. When she saw her teacher tilt his head in confirmation, she immediately started muttering, "I remember in the elementary genjutsu class I took at the academy that if the afflicted ninja is not a sensor-type shinobi, the first thing you're supposed to look for is something out of the ordinary, something that isn't what it appears…" she trailed off as she began to wander around the clearing. Kakashi's clone remained silent and merely observed his student as she began to slowly piece together her surroundings. She took some experimental jabs at trees, some bushes, and even walked over to the clone of her teacher and confirmed that he was a tangible figure, causing the clone to chuckle slightly.

Sakura suddenly paused and stared at the sky, where the sun was about halfway up the sky from due east. Her eyes widened in recognition, and she whipped out her cell phone to check the time. Finding the answer she desired, she said, "It's not mid morning, sensei."

"Good job, that's the first and weakest of the illusions," the clone replied proudly, "Now, the next question is how to dispel it. Think about what the genjutsu did to your senses and what had to be affected for it to work."

Sakura paused in thought, her cell phone still in hand. "Well…it seems to be a somewhat weak illusion, as it didn't affect my phone at all. My sense of time wasn't affected all that much either because it still feels like mid afternoon, so it's strictly a visual illusion, but a broad one that shields the true sky from showing. As for how to dispel it, a burst of chakra should do the trick, since the illusion is wide spread but not that strong." She clapped her hands together and released a small wave of chakra, and almost immediately she was able to see the sun reset itself to the correct position.

"Excellent work, Sakura," Kakashi's clone said, clapping in appreciation, "Now, let's move on to the next one." The pinkette nodded and closed her eyes, spreading her senses as she tried to find the next illusion…

_**Naruto and Sasuke's Group**_

After the three males had made their way decently deep into the forest, they stopped in a small cleaning surrounded by towering trees. Kakashi limped over to a tree and sat down, and his two students followed him over. The jōnin looked up to them and said, "Before we get started on the actual lesson, I want to get a better idea of what my team is capable of. I didn't bring any techniques to learn, nor do I want you to bother with that for the time being. There's simply not enough time to learn a new technique and have any use for it in battle, and I also believe you two have a nice pool of moves at your disposal."

"So what's the plan, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.

"We'll just start with a brief overview of what each of you know. There's no need to go too in depth, just some of your self-perceived strengths and weaknesses," Kakashi explained, "Sasuke, let's start with you, since I have a general idea of what Naruto's capable of from being around his parents my whole life."

The young Uchiha nodded and said, "Well, I have an affinity for Katon techniques, as you can probably tell. That comes with being a member of the Uchiha clan, so I was taught from a young age to be proficient in those techniques. For the time being, I don't know much about genjutsu because my father always told me when I was a child that it is much easier to acclimate your senses to the usage of illusions after the awakening of the Sharingan. My taijutsu is probably above average, as I can usually beat Naruto in a one-on-one fight if we don't use ninjutsu and he doesn't use the Kyūbi's chakra. Is that what you were looking for?"

Kakashi nodded, "That's perfect, just what I was looking for. Your turn, Naruto."

"Similarly to Sasuke, I have a decent grasp on my elemental affinity, Fūton techniques, but we both are only educated in basic techniques of each element. I do have somewhat of an upper hand on him when it comes to genjutsu just because he can break me out of anything I might get stuck in. I don't have any actual techniques yet, but Kurama said that he'd be helping me mix in some of his demonic illusions as I get older. My taijutsu skills aren't that great, but I make up for it with sheer numbers of Shadow Clones," he stated, and then he smirked as he added, "I'm probably stronger than Sasuke at the moment, even though he won't admit it." For that, he received a cuff on the head.

Amused, Kakashi said in reply, "Who's better than who is irrelevant when I can beat both of you quite soundly without any help." They both at least had the decency to look ashamed, and he continued, "It looks like ninjutsu is off to a good start, and genjutsu will come along when the time's right, so the main issue now is to get your taijutsu up to speed. And I think we all know what the best way to do that is, right?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto responded almost instantly, "Kick Sasuke's butt over and over and over again." Another snarky comment, another slap over the head.

The gray haired jōnin shook his head at his hyperactive student. "Well, it's more like you'll be kicking each other's butt over and over and over again." He sweated when he saw the overly excited looks that appeared on both of his students' faces. "Calm down, you too. Just some brisk sparring, that's all. For the sake of learning, I'm going to impose some restrictions on Naruto, since he seems to be the wild card here." He ignored the spluttering that erupted from the blonde. "No Kyūbi cloak for you, and only one Shadow Clone. I think that will both make the fight much more fair and allow Naruto to gain some extra experience to get him up to Sasuke's level of taijutsu proficiency. Understand?" Both boys nodded. "Alright then, get going, but try to stay where I can see you." As soon as the last word left his mouth, there were suddenly two Uzumakis, and they both charged at Sasuke, who fell into a defensive position.

...xXx...

Naruto and Sasuke trudged into Tazuna's house, exhausted but extremely satisfied from their afternoon-long workout, followed closely by a limping Kakashi. Sakura had already returned and was helping Tsunami with dinner. She looked up and saw the two young men stumble into the living room and sink into the couch and asked, "Good grief, what did you two do all day?"

Too exhausted to say too much, they simply pointed at each other and said, "I beat him up." The pinkette shook her head in disbelief and went back to helping their host's daughter.

Her teacher made his way into the kitchen and plopped into a chair. Propping his crutch on the table, he elaborated further, "I decided that they would be better suited to get their taijutsu skills improved, since they seem to have a healthy pool of ninjutsu to draw from." Sensing her question, he continued, "I know you might be wondering why I didn't go into genjutsu with either of them, and they both have excellent reasons why there's no need to worry about it for the time being. Naruto has his tenant, and Sasuke's Sharingan is going to awaken very soon."

He then focused his attention from the wonderful smells wafting through the air to his female student, "You did quite well today. I honestly wasn't expecting you to bust through all of my illusions in just one day. I figured it would take you at least two." Sakura flushed at the praise being lavished on her as her sensei continued, "Don't worry about looking at the scroll for tonight. We can start on that tomorrow morning, and in the afternoon, you can go with Tazuna as his bodyguard." Even though he said that, he knew she would start looking at her father's techniques as soon as dinner was completed.

An hour or two later, dinner was served, and the two male genin had recovered enough to make their way to the table, tempted by the offer of a filling meal. As they ate, Naruto began to notice that Tsunami's only son, Inari, was paying a lot of attention to the torn picture hanging on the wall near the table, and his curiosity was piqued. After everyone had finished eating, and they were just sitting around in light conversation, the blonde piped up and asked Tazuna about the picture, pointing at it, "Tazuna, who is that picture of? I noticed Inari looking at it a couple of times during lunch."

Immediately, all of the non-ninja tensed up, and Naruto sensed that he might have went somewhere he shouldn't have. Tazuna shifted uncomfortably and said quietly, "The torn part is where Inari's father was. He was a truly wonderful man, and I couldn't have asked for a better son-in-law. People around here loved him, and he was seen as a hero and a truly bright light in the darkness of the Wave Country brought on by Gatō. Even though we lived under that slumlord's oppression, Kaiza kept our hopes alive. That is…until Gatō executed him under false pretenses of treason and conspiracy. This country hasn't been the same since" Tazuna choked up and said no more, Tsunami's eyes began to water, and Inari had long since dashed from the room to who knows where. The ninja were stunned by the story and couldn't really say anything else.

...xXx...

After dinner later that night, once Tazuna's family had settled down a little from the reopening of old wounds, and Naruto and Sasuke had retreated to their rooms, Sakura was left alone with Kakashi at the dinner table. "Kakashi-sensei, do you mind if I ask you a question?" she asked tentatively.

He smiled at her, his visible eye crinkling up in evidence of that, and responded, "Anytime, Sakura, what is it?"

"It's just…" she hesitated to try to find the right words, "I really wasn't much use when me and Sasuke and Naruto were battling Zabuza's apprentice, and I'm worried that I'm not much use when they have so much ability and I just have book smarts." Her face was crestfallen by the time her voice had fallen off into silence.

Kakashi was somewhat confused by her tone, and he asked, "Why would you say that? From what I could see and hear, you were keeping his attention occupied, and against an opponent of that caliber, that's what I would like to see out of you."

Sakura didn't look convinced. "I guess, but I couldn't actually get any strikes in on him. I backed off whenever Naruto or Sasuke got an opening because they could do a lot more damage," she said dejectedly.

"I want you to stop that right now," Kakashi barked, and then in a somewhat calmer tone, continued, "Your problem isn't that you aren't skilled enough, but rather that you have a basic mastery of a wide set of skills but no specialty or direction. That's what we're working to achieve with the genjutsu training we did today." His tone shifted as he chuckled a little. "And judging by how well you did today, I think you'll be just fine. Now, we probably need to bed soon. I'm looking forward to seeing how your father's techniques do in your hands." Sakura, looking much less discouraged, nodded and helped her teacher up, and the two of them departed for their respective bedrooms.

...xXx...

The next few days proceeded in a similar fashion to that first one. After breakfast, Team 7 would head out into the forest and split up for training. Sakura and one of Kakashi's clones would work on some of the elementary genjutsu in the scroll of Haruno Kizashi's scroll, trying to wrap her head around the intricacies of the illusions that her father had created and honed. As the week grew late, her skill in disrupting illusions cast upon both her and the environment was solidified. Included in that was a heightened awareness of her surroundings and when her chakra was being disrupted by outside sources.

Her father's techniques were proving to be slightly more difficult, but the one silver lining was that they all built off of each other. Her father was a true expert in weaving illusions that confused the senses. None were offensive based but rather more for a support role. There were techniques that targeted the senses and individuals, ones that blanketed an area, even ones that could transfer through physical contact. She couldn't wait to get home and learn more about them from her father.

She spent her mornings working on genjutsu with one of Kakashi's clones, but her afternoons were actually spent on the bridge with Tazuna, mostly as a spare set of eyes. Naruto and Sasuke had similar exercises every day under the guidance of the real jōnin; basically, it was a 2-on-1 spar, with the blonde spawning a clone and working out against the young Uchiha. Naruto progressed rapidly throughout the entire week thanks to the extra experience from using clones, and Sasuke's reflexes vastly improved.

As the week waned, Naruto and Sasuke's duels caused a lot of exhaustion, but more so on Naruto's part due to the overflow of information from the extra clone being used to spar with Sasuke. That is why four days after the start of the team training, Naruto was rudely awakened early in the morning by the clattering of dishes in the kitchen.

"…wha…what? What time is it?" he mumbled incoherently.

The sound of footsteps drew his eyes to the door as Tsunami poked her head into the living room. "Oh, Naruto, you're awake," she said happily, "Kakashi-sensei said for you to relax today since you overexerted yourself yesterday while training. They went on ahead with Father to the bridge."

Naruto, suddenly energized, looked around and started to get prepared extremely fast. "Aw man, they left without me!" he pouted. Tsunami shook her head in amusement and went back to washing dishes with Inari. The blonde emerged from the living room, dashed through the kitchen, shouted a quick "Thank you," and ran out the door. He emerged into the backyard behind the house and leapt up into the forest, using tree branches to cover a lot of ground quickly.

A few minutes later found him nearly halfway to the bridge when he noticed something…odd that caught his eye deep within in the woods. 'What's that? I'd better take a peek,' Naruto thought, and he veered off his path to check it out.

…xXx…

Meanwhile, when the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna had arrived at the bridge slightly prior, they were shocked to discover the bridge builder's workers laid half-dead all over the bridge. "What the hell happened here?" the elder man shouted as he ran over to one of the workers to check on him.

"They came without warning...watch out…" the man said right before he fainted. A quick check by the three ninja yielded similar results with the other workers. As they got up to move further towards the middle of the bridge, a thick mist started to roll in.

"Oh no, they're here!" Kakashi muttered in horror. Sakura's face went white, and she closed her eyes as she clapped her hands together and started murmuring feverishly. Sasuke didn't react but rather kept his eyes trained on the dense fog in front of him.

"Well, well, well. Long time, no see, Copy Ninja," a voice reverberated through the mist. "I was hoping to run into you again. Our last night felt somewhat truncated." A slight pause, and then the voice echoed once more, still sounding like it was all around them, "I must thank you for bringing Tazuna to me. This makes my job much easier. And my students have been itching for a fight with your genin squad." Another pause, and the voice now sounded surprised, "But I don't see the blonde…I do hope he shows up." The Hidden Leaf ninja arranged themselves around Tazuna as tightly as possible, though they were alert to mind all angles. "Feh, you can't even keep yourselves from shivering in fear. The girl is talking to herself, and the Uchiha looks like he's about to have a seizure..." Suddenly, five Zabuzas appeared around Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna, all in mid swing with their giant swords.

"No, I'm shaking with excitement, that's all!" Sasuke muttered with a smirk. He disappeared with a blur, and the Zabuzas surrounding him dispersed into water. The dark haired genin reappeared in the middle of the puddle of water with two kunai in his hands, peering into the gloom.

The mist thinned out a little, and Zabuza walked out of the mist, flanked by both of his unmasked students. "Well, it seems that my Water Clones can't fool you any more," the elder rogue noted with some amount of disappointment. "That's unfortunate. Shiro, Haku, go take the two brats while I deal with Kakashi."

The two younger fake hunters nodded and moved forward, only to each be rocked back by invisible blows to the face. Zabuza's eyes narrowed slightly, and he peered at his opponents, who hadn't moved one inch and appeared as shocked as he was. "What's going on here?" he murmured, glancing back to see his students picking themselves up. A slight sound back in the direction of his opponents caused him to whip his head back around towards them, only to receive an elbow to the back of the head. Snarling, he whipped his head around to see his own students on him, releasing punches towards him. A quick flicker of his eyes told him what he needed to know. Reacting quickly, a sweep of his leg knocked the two back, and he quickly brought his hands up and shouted, "Release!"

His two "students" who had attacked him shimmered away, revealing Sakura quickly picking herself off the ground to join her teammate in facing his actual protégés who were themselves just getting off the ground from the invisible punches they had received. "I see…the pink haired one used my mist against me," Zabuza whispered, impressed despite himself, "Used it to hide both herself and her teammate while the ones by the bridge builder were just illusions so they could get Shiro and Haku away. Then, she hid them under an illusion and disguised herself as both of them to try to get a cheap shot on me." Looking up to Kakashi, who had moved to face him away from a now defenseless Tazuna, his voice rose as he said, "Your students are sneaky little twerps, you know that?"

"I taught them well, then," he replied lazily, "Now then, shall we get started?"

"Yes, let's," the rogue replied, and both jōnin disappeared into the mist.

...xXx...

"That was a cheap trick, Uchiha," Shiro growled as he finally stumbled to his feet and helped his sister to hers as well, wiping the blood from his lip.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with it," Sasuke drawled, "It was all my teammate here. She's the only one that can use genjutsu of the three of us." His praise elicited a blush on the pinkette's face.

"Well, aren't you special?" the male rogue sneered sarcastically. He formed some hand signs and then whispered, "I'm done playing around. Fūton: Shura Senpūken." Once more, tornadoes roared to life around Shiro's ankles and wrists.

Sasuke glared at the tornadoes and asked, "Am I supposed to be afraid of that?"

His opponent's face remained stoic as he replied, "It's not you who should be afraid," before he disappeared from sight.

'Where'd he go?' Sasuke thought, looking around. A gust of wind rushing by his face elicited a quick reaction into a defensive position. As the gale swept past him, the Uchiha boy realized he wasn't the real target and shot after it. He didn't stand much of a chance of catching it and could only watch as Shiro buried his fist into the gut of Tazuna…who promptly disappeared and was replaced by his sister, who had been forced to erect a pane of ice to prevent serious harm.

The spiky haired young man's eyes widened as the scene in front of him shifted once more, revealing that everyone minus his sister were actually behind him. Tazuna was still near the Wave Country side of the bridge, but with Sakura in front of him as a guard. The clash between Kakashi and Zabuza was slightly closer, with the only evidence being the sounds of clanging metal, and Sasuke was standing a couple of feet behind his back, with a look not of fear but of confidence.

"Brother, please don't get worked up," Haku pleaded, "Let's think about this carefully. Let's not get fancy. We have a two on one advantage here. Let's keep him occupied until Zabuza-sensei can take care of the Copy Ninja." Shiro nodded as he took a few breaths to calm down, and then they both turned to face Sasuke, who had readied himself into a battle stance.

The three ninja stared each other down for a few moments, waiting to see who would make the first move. That pleasure would go to the twins, as they disappeared from sight. The young Uchiha quickly pulled out two kunai to use as defense and kept his eyes sharp as the wind picked up around him. He tried to concentrate on where they would be coming from, but he wasn't expecting a full on charge, and he realized too late that they were coming at him head on. He attempted to square himself, but there was no need as an orange blur phased in and blocked both siblings.

"Need some help, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he held Shiro and Haku back.

His friend shook his head in wonder, smirked, and said, "Took you long enough, you idiot."

...xXx...

AN: Please review and stay tuned! I'm going to try to shorten chapters to around 5000 words to get these guys out on a more consistent basis. After the next chapter, I will be out of templates from my old story, so the chapters will slow a lot, just for fair warning.

**Guest:** While I respect your opinion, this is my story, and if you don't like it, then don't read it. It's a simple concept. People, constructive criticism. The goal of this story is not a complete overall, it's a long-term exposition of the butterfly effect, the origin of which will be seen in the first change of pace piece after Chapter 5.

**justsomerealguy:** The Zabuza part of the fight was different, yeah, but there was a lot more added to this fight, like the addition of a whole new fighter. The tag team will be coming in the next chapter, so stay tuned!


	5. (Land of Waves 3) Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Land of Waves) Chapter 5 – Battle for the Bridge! Team 7 vs. Team Zabuza!

"It took you long enough to get here, moron," Sasuke said sarcastically as he relaxed his stance.

Naruto shot him a grin. "I would have gotten here a lot faster, but I had backtrack halfway here and stop a couple of Gatō's thugs from killing Inari and Tsunami, and then I had to travel the whole way back here, which took forever." He cracked his fists as the twins retreated back to their original positions to rethink their strategy with the new arrival on the scene.

"Well, this complicates things somewhat, doesn't it brother?" Haku asked as she contemplated the two teammates.

Shiro didn't look too discouraged. "It might make this fight a little more interesting, if anything. Since I've already had the pleasure of fighting both of them, who would you like to take on?"

The female rogue shifted her gaze from the Uchiha teen to the son of the Fourth Hokage, and her eyes settled on the latter. "I've been interested in seeing what the blonde one can do since I saw your fight last week," she said slowly, "You can have the Uchiha."

"Works for me," her brother replied simply, and he disappeared from view, appearing opposite of his original spot, with the two Hidden Leaf genin sandwiched between the Hidden Mist twins.

Sasuke locked eyes with the spiky haired teen and murmured, "Well, it seems you want a one-on-one battle."

"For now, yes, but if my sister needs my assistance, then I will hesitate to help her," was the response he received. He held up his fists, which were still swirling with the violent force of tornadoes. "I'm sure you remember these. Are you ready for round two?"

The young Uchiha's only response was to shrug and cockily smirk before exploding in a puff of smoke. Shiro's eyes widened in horror as the heat of a fireball rushed at him from the side, and he jumped back to avoid any damage. Despite his quick reaction, the wind surrounding his wrists sucked in the fire and enraged to a fierce flaming maelstrom around the young man's hands. Shiro quickly cancelled his technique, but if anything, that made the fire worse, as it wasn't being contained and threatened to engulf his body. Using the speed still in his feet, he bolted to the edge of the bridge and disappeared off the edge. Sasuke, emerging from Sakura's final illusion, walked to the edge of the bridge and waited for his foe to emerge from the murky depths of the sea.

...xXx...

Meanwhile, Haku and Naruto stood, silently staring each other down. After a minute of this, the young blonde took the initiative and shot at the female rogue. As he approached, a bubbling cloak of red chakra surrounded his body, and a tail emerged from his lower back as his head appeared to gain two large ears and his hands transformed to large claws. Despite this, Haku just smiled and pulled out two senbon from a pouch on her waist. As Naruto drew close to her, water started to condense around the senbon, and as the cloaked teen slashed at her with a claw, she was able to stop it with two icy swords that had formed from the mist in the air. "Ice?" Naruto growled.

Haku nodded softly and replied, "That's right. It's a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit), not dissimilar to the abilities you own as a result of your own, as it appears."

"Not even close, but I'm flattered that you think my entire family can do this," the Kyūbi host hissed, trying to gain the upper hand.

"No matter. You'll see soon enough…" and she pulled back and pushed Naruto's arms away from her with the improvised ice swords, to the young man's surprise, "…that my Hyōton (Ice Release) techniques are not going to be broken easily." The cloaked teen's crimson eyes regarded his opponent and the weapons she wielded carefully before smirking. He thrust his arms forward once more, but harder and with chakra claws bared. Haku didn't expect anything different and put her swords up in a defensive position once more. However, she was shocked when the ice shattered, and the senbon fell out of her hands, merely shards of wood after the deceiving attack. Her eyes widened slightly, and she murmured, "How were you able to do that?" The query was more out of curiosity than anger.

"I'll give you a hint: this isn't a kekkei genkai," Naruto growled. His face went slack for a moment before twisting in a grin as his features grew increasingly more fox-like. A second chakra tail erupted from the base of his spine, and when he spoke again, the voice that came out was that of Kurama, "**This power is unlike any that exists in this world, but you won't be around long enough to figure out what that means.**" The blonde's face shifted back into a calmer appearance, but the confident smirk was still there, as was the second tail.

Haku regarded her opponent with a slight narrowing of her eyes. "I'm no pushover, and I certainly am not going anywhere without putting up a fight," she replied. Raising her fists, condensation gathered once more, though this time the ice encased her hands into shapes resembling that of boxing gloves. Without another word, she charged at Naruto, who descended to all fours once more and prepared for her onslaught.

...xXx...

Sasuke was beginning to grow tired of waiting. He had been standing on the lip of the bridge, attempting to peer into the depths of the sea and find a clue as to where his opponent had gone. Not only was the water rather murky, but also in the shade of the bridge, he couldn't see if his opponent was hiding out under it using chakra. None of the possibilities made any sense in his mind, and because he hadn't been at the edge when Shiro went over, he couldn't see whether or not he had actually gone into the water.

Finally losing his patience, he shouted, "Are you going to come out and fight me face to face anytime soon?" He was rewarded with nothing but the sounds of the waves lapping against the supports of the bridge. "Fine," he muttered, "If he won't come out, I'll try to smoke him out." He started a long string of hand seals, ending in the Tiger sign. As he was raising his hand to his lips, he caught a familiar sound in his ears, and he whipped around.

Shiro apparently had ducked under the bridge and doused his shirt, which was burnt away to the shoulders but with no real harm to his arms, and then come back up on the opposite side that Sasuke had been standing on to attempt a sneak attack. His hands were once more wrapped in tornadoes, and he was in mid swing towards his opponent's head. "Miss me?" he snarled as he thrust his arm forward.

Not having much time to react, the young Uchiha leapt back so that the swirling winds missed his head, but they still managed to clip his side. He was able to avoid a serious injury, but as he landed, one hand immediately went to inspect the damage. He had been lucky to escape with a few cuts and a destroyed shirt.

Not wasting any time, he continued with his earlier prepared technique and shouted, "Katon - Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Style – Dragon Fire Technique)!" From between his cupped lips shot out a wide wave of fire that swept towards Shiro.

'Oh, damn, no time to block it! I'd better move it!' the wind master frantically thought as the fire soared towards him, and upon reaching its target, it erupted in a terrific explosion of sparks and stone.

From where he was standing by Sakura, Tazuna couldn't see what was happening in the fight, but he could sure see and hear the explosion, and he spluttered angrily, "Hey, super idiot, don't destroy the bridge!"

The stream of fire slowly petered out from Sasuke's mouth, and the young man finally breathed out a puff of smoke, looking around for where his breezy opponent had gone off too. Some movement to his right caught his attention, as he saw Shiro appear, obviously starting to show some wear from Sasuke's fire techniques. The tornadoes on his left wrist and ankle had been completely extinguished, with those same joints sporting some nasty burns, and his clothing on the left side of his body was also singed. "Nice try, Uchiha. I have to say, that was a pretty potent technique. I would've been incinerated if I hadn't blasted myself out of the way," he gasped.

"You're just a regular speed demon, aren't you?" Sasuke asked with a smirk. Shiro replied with a similar expression and shot at his foe once more, this time engaging him in a fierce taijutsu battle.

...xXx...

Meanwhile, Shiro's sister and a Kurama-enhanced Uzumaki were furiously exchanging strikes, with Naruto's pure power causing chips to fall away from his opponent's frozen gauntlets, and Haku's boosted punches pounding some bruises into the jinchūriki's flesh. Neither had been able to gain the upper hand in the few minutes that they had been exchanging blows.

However, when Haku felt the explosion that resulted from Sasuke's fire technique, her face erupted in terror, and she started dashing away. Naruto wasn't having any part of that, and he sprinted after. He noted with some interest that she wasn't moving towards that fight but back towards where they had originally engaged with Zabuza, and he couldn't make any sense of it. Increasing his speed, he snarled,

"You can't escape!"

"Who was trying to get away? I was just trying to get to this pool of water," Haku responded, stopping in the middle of a puddle of water, the lone remnants of Zabuza's earlier water clones. As the ice user's frosty glaives melted away, Naruto jabbed forward with a crimson claw, but Haku blocked it with one of her hands, wincing slightly at the twisting chakra. "You've made a grave mistake, friend," she said softly.

The young Uzumaki couldn't see how, but he decided to play her game and responded, "Oh really? Mind explaining that to me?"

"Of course, First, I have you trapped here," and she jerked her head towards their locked fingers, "And second, we're surrounded by a pool of water, which is perfect for my next technique." With that, she lifted her other hand and started weaving one-handed hand seals.

Naruto's red eyes widened in shock at the sight, as he had never heard of anyone capable of such a feat, much less the speed she was flashing her one hand. He had no time to react as she shouted, "Hyōton: Sensatsu Suishō (Ice Release: Death by a Thousand Water Needles)!" Simultaneously, Haku stomped the puddle with her foot, causing it to fly up and form into a thousand needles of frozen water. Naruto could only helplessly watch as the icy missiles all shot at him and pierced through his chakra cloak. He fell silently to the concrete.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, but my brother needs me," Haku said softly. She made a sign and disappeared in a swish of water. She reappeared right in front of her brother, blocking a kick aimed at his head by Sasuke. The young Uchiha's eyes widened slightly in surprise at the new arrival, but he acted quickly. Using his caught leg as a pivot, he swung out with his other foot and made to kick the young woman away from her brother, but she caught that leg as well.

"Oh crap…" he muttered in horror, immediately recognizing his error but unable to do anything to rectify it.

Shiro, recognizing the opening, fazed to Sasuke's side and cupped his hands in a familiar stance. The Uchiha's eyes widened as he recognized it as well. Smirking, as wind began to rapidly swirl in his hands, the young rogue began to chant the name of the technique, "Fūton – Tatsumaki Baku…" but was interrupted as a foot collided with his cheek and sent him flying across the bridge.

Haku immediately turned to see if her brother was okay, but that was a costly mistake, as she received a blindside elbow to the back of her head. Dazed, she released Sasuke's legs, and he did a backflip backwards to gain some separation. Naruto appeared at his side, still in his bijū cloak and very much unharmed.

The young Uchiha wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered, "Thanks for the save. I was not interested in taking one of those pointblank." His best friend merely grinned as he peered into the mist. Haku was slowly getting to her feet, and as she turned to face them, her brother emerged, nursing a busted lip.

Naruto's feral fangs smirked at the twins as he asked, "Well, I guess one-on-one is out the window. Let's make our lives easier and fight two-on-two. Any issues there?"

"None whatsoever. Sister, I think it's about time we stopped playing around," Shiro stated, and the long-haired rogue nodded in agreement. and the twins jumped back and started forming hand signs. Both Hidden Leaf genin tensed, observing their technique preparation. The twins linked palms and made one final sign with their free hand, shouting, "Hyōton Hijutsu - Makyō Hyōshō (Ice Style Secret Technique - Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)!" From their feet, the sea below, and the air around them, ice sheets began to form in a dome shape surrounding both Naruto and Sasuke.

"What the heck are these things?" the blonde asked his friend, looking around worriedly at the ice panels, and the young Uchiha did not have an answer for him.

The twins released hands and began walking towards the dome. "This has truly been an entertaining fight, but it's time to end this. You won't leave this alive," Shiro muttered ominously. His sister stepped towards one of the mirrors...and walked straight into it. As her body disappeared, her image appeared on the opposite side of the pane she had entered.

...xXx...

Kakashi and Zabuza broke their clash and stood opposite of each other, taking a quick breather. As the mist had thinned slightly, he took a quick glance in the direction of his male students and was shocked by the ice pane dome that had appeared. Curiously enough, his Sharingan was unable to register it as a technique that he was able to copy, and so he asked, "Zabuza, what kind of technique is that? What have you taught those children?"

The Demon of the Hidden Mist smirked as he also looked in the direction of his charges. "I taught those two many things, but what they're doing now is something that they've known their entire life."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he connected the dots in his mind. "That's a kekkei genkai? How is that possible?"

"I know what you're thinking," Zabuza replied, "They barely escaped the genocide with their lives. I found them alone on the streets, barely surviving, and that's when I took them in. What you're seeing now is their ability to form a new element, Hyōton (Ice Release)" Smirking, he added, "And as I wager you already know, you can't copy techniques that derive from a kekkei genkai."

"I already figured that out," the Copy Ninja muttered in reply, "I have to say, your techniques have worked pretty well up until now to provide me with a good workout."

The Hidden Mist rogue chuckled and said, "That's not going to rile me up, Kakashi. Not any more." Once more, he charged at the gray haired jōnin, who prepared for round two.

...xXx...

"Witness the power of teamwork only twins can achieve!" Shiro shouted. He formed a new long string of hand seals, exclaiming, "Hyōmai: Ryōkyō (Ice Dance: Twin Pincer)!" The spiky haired teen stepped towards a different mirror than his sister had, walked into it, and came flying out the other side as a spinning tornado filled with ice shards that shot from mirror to mirror. The trapped Leaf genin had nowhere to run, and while Naruto was able to somewhat protect himself with the Kyūbi's chakra, and both boys had the speed to dodge the worst of the attacks, they still ended up on the ground with cuts all over their bodies and senbon protruding from their extremities. The images of Shiro and Haku shimmered to life on either side of the dome as they observed the trapped teens.

"Okay, this is not fun at all," Naruto muttered in pain. His friend nodded as he yanked a few of the thin weapons from his arms and legs.

"What's say we make a run for the outside?" Sasuke suggested, "You go one way, and I go the other."

"Worth a shot," his partner agreed, and they both took off running in opposite directions. Naruto, having the slight edge in speed, nearly made it nearly to the before being slammed by the ice tornado back into the middle, and Sasuke didn't even make it that far before being peppered with senbon. Both boys retreated and aligned themselves back to back.

"Do you have a plan B, genius?" Naruto asked sarcastically.

"Actually, yeah I do," the young Uchiha admitted, surprising the blonde, "See if you can fill up the entire dome with Shadow Clones and try to catch them as they attack. I'm going to back off and try to get a read on their attack pattern."

"Sounds good to me." Naruto was already in the process of forming the sign for his favorite technique, and the dome was soon brimming with crimson-cloaked blondes. Almost immediately, the twins began darting from mirror to mirror, attacking the herd that had appeared within their domain, and in doing so they temporarily lost track of Sasuke in all the chaos.

He had to admit, the cloaked Uzumaki was doing a rather exceptional job as a distraction, and that allowed him time to find a pattern in the attack. He kept his eyes trained on each mirror as the twins darted around. Every time they managed to destroy one clone, two more appeared to take its place. This proved beneficial as information began flooding into Sasuke's mind about the pattern that the twins were using: never attacking the same target, always assaulting from opposite sides of the dome, mixing the ice tornado and senbon to confuse their targets. He also started to notice a minute slowing in their movements, indicating that even they didn't have the stamina of their opponent, who could go on all day.

Finally, after what seemed like only seconds but what was really a couple of minutes, Shiro and Haku grew wise to the fact that they had lost Sasuke in the chaos that Naruto had created and disappeared into the ice panes, not appearing on any of the ones that he could see.

Moments later, his senses began screaming, and he forward leapt into the air over Shiro's tornado fist that had emerged from the mirror directly behind him. In front of him, he could see Haku flying straight at him from a pane at the top of the dome. Without hesitation, he turned his body 90 degrees and reached out towards his fast approaching assailants. Grasping a handful of each twin's shirt, he used the momentum from their own attacks and flung them in opposite direction. Shiro was sent flying into the ground, barely managing to land on all four to prevent any serious damage. Haku wasn't so lucky, as she slammed into the roof of the dome and shattered the mirrors as her body crashed into the concrete outside, where she remained still.

Sasuke landed next to his friend and glared at the remaining sibling in front of them. Shiro slowly raised his eyes to meet his opponent's and was astonished at the sight. "His eyes...they're Sharingan!" he muttered in amazement. Indeed, Sasuke's eyes had turned a dark red, the left one with one tomoe (comma) and the right with two.

Although his friend's ears weren't keen enough to pick up what he said, Naruto had no trouble hearing his statement, and in surprise he jerked his head over and looked at his friend's eyes, his eyes widening at the sight.

"Sasuke...your eyes!" he exclaimed, "You awakened your Sharingan!"

"Wait, what? Are you serious? That's why I can see her movements so well!" the dark haired teen replied ecstatically. Naruto handed him a kunai, and while it wasn't the best measure, he was able to see well enough to confirm what had been told to him.

"They chose a good time to appear," Naruto stated, dropping the Kyūbi's chakra and returning to normal, "I was actually starting to get a little tired out there." His teammate nodded his agreement. Looking a few feet away, where Haku had fallen, and then back to the exhausted twin kneeling in front of them, he said, "We need to go see if Kakashi-sensei is alright." Sasuke nodded, and they made to head in that general direction.

"Please…don't leave yet," a barely audible voice rasped. The two boys turned and saw that Haku had stirred and was struggling to sit up. She looked at them with a pleading expression and continued, "We need you to help us."

Neither Hidden Leaf genin could believe what she was saying, and Sasuke snarled, "Why? Why do we owe you any thing! You tried to kill us!"

From behind them, Shiro murmured as he struggled to get to his feet, "The only reason we did it was because Gatō ordered us to. We needed the money to make our dream come true. This one job and we would have what we need to make our plans work. Haku and I have nothing against you two personally, but this mission blew up into something neither us nor Zabuza-sensei could have foreseen."

"That still doesn't explain why we should even consider helping Zabuza," Naruto snapped, "He's sadistic! Does he even have a redeeming quality?"

"Please, listen. He doesn't want to do anything bad to you, either, even if he doesn't seem like it. He was the one that wanted the money in the first place, but he never wanted the mission to end up like this. However, your sensei doesn't know that, so please…help us!" Haku pleaded before she faded from consciousness.

Shiro picked up where she had left off and said, "Gatō has him in a tough situation. Sensei accepted the job without knowing that scumbag's real intentions. Once he heard what we had to do to receive payment, he tried to break off the arrangement, but Gatō threatened to tip off the Hidden Mist Village where he had been hiding out, so he was blackmailed into helping. Please, just save him. That's all we ask. He's the only person we have besides each other."

Both Hidden Leaf genin considered the request, and eventually, Naruto glanced at Sasuke with a questioning look in his eye. His response was a vehement headshake, and the blonde gave him a more insistent look. The Uchiha kept shaking his head, but Naruto wouldn't give up, and finally the dark-haired teen relented and said, "Fine, we'll help you out. I'll go help Haku, you get Shiro, you massive idiot." Ignoring the giggling from his teammate, he quickly walked over and picked Haku up, bridal-style, noticing her legs were almost completely shattered. Her mask was close to falling off, having been shattered into multiple pieces, and Sasuke threw them aside before picking her up. Naruto lifted Shiro's arm and put it around his shoulders, and the two genin started to slowly walk over towards where they had left Kakashi and Zabuza when they felt a spike of chakra in that direction.

"Oh no, that isn't good," Shiro said worriedly, "Naruto, may I borrow some chakra? I think Zabuza-sensei needs my help." Though both genin were still slightly suspicious of the twins, the blonde nodded and pumped some chakra into the spiky haired teen's body until he held up a hand and said, "Okay, that's enough, thank you." He started making handseals before whispering the name of his signature technique, "Fūton: Shura Senpūken." Miniature tornadoes once more erupted from his wrists and ankles, and Shiro disappeared from view.

...xXx...

While all of that was going on, Kakashi had taken some serious damage in the fight courtesy of a large gash in his chest. Unfortunately, after seeing how talented the twins truly were, he felt the need to speed up the pace of the battle, but that had cost him as his rush had resulted in a careless mistake.

Zabuza stood a few feet away. As the blood dripping from his sword seemed to disappear, or rather seep into the sword itself, the Demon of the Hidden Mist sneered, "I believe this fight is nearly done, wouldn't you say?"

"Possibly, but not the way you think," was the reply as Kakashi extracted a scroll from his vest. Unrolling it, he wiped some of the blood from his chest wound on it. The scroll rolled back up, and Kakashi started making hand signs. "I'm finishing this right now. One last move, winner takes all. Doton Kuchiyose - Tsuiga no Jutsu (Earth Style Summoning - Tracking Fang Technique)!" he shouted and slammed the scroll into the ground.

From somewhere in the mist, Zabuza shouted, "Your stupid postulations won't do you any good, Kakashi. Just give it up and hand over the old man!" Hearing only silence, he made to attack, but he aborted those plans when he suddenly heard something approaching him. He looked down…and yelped in pain as eight dogs of various sizes and breeds erupted from the bridge and clamped their jaws down on critical parts of his body, effectively restricting his movements.

Opposite him, Kakashi rose back to his feet and started to form more handseals, saying "I just have two things to tell you. I won't give up, and what I see in your future...is death!"

"Haven't you had enough of bluffing your way out of things?" the Hidden Mist rogue asked snidely, though a tinge of fear was starting to make it to the surface.

"No, this was determined the moment you slaughtered your way out of the Hidden Mist Village," the gray haired jōnin muttered, "Now, enjoy the last few seconds of your life!" He finished his hand signs, and sparking lightning chakra started to gather in his hand. He held his hand towards the ground and shouted, "Raikiri (Lightning Cutter)!"

'Damn, what is this? His chakra's visible!' Zabuza thought, fear starting to permeate his body.

The Hidden Leaf jōnin held firm for a moment, and then he started charging towards his opponent. Right before he reached the bound rogue, two tornadoes came out of nowhere and blocked the Raikiri.

"Don't...hurt...Zabuza-sensei!" Shiro muttered as he struggled against the penetrating power of lightning.

"Kakashi-sensei, listen to him! They aren't the real enemy!" Naruto shouted as the other three ninja caught up with the young man protecting his teacher.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Kakashi asked suspiciously, noticing that his Raikiri was surprisingly starting to fail.

"They're doing this because Gatō is forcing them to; they really have no reason to fight against us!" the blonde explained, "If we help them, we can get rid of that tyrant once and for all."

Kakashi thought for a moment, and then said, "I admit it makes sense, but we would need Gatō here to confirm it."

"You ask and you shall receive, ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village." The entire group turned their heads in the direction of the shoreline. The mist was thinning, and a few hundred yards from Sakura and Tazuna, who were still both safe, an army of assassins, samurai, and ruffians stood baring both weapons and teeth. At their head was a short man in a tailored suit, and it was that individual whose voice had rung out.

Kakashi deactivated the Raikiri, and Shiro fell over from pain and exhaustion, promptly passing out. The dogs disappeared as they were dismissed, and Zabuza collapsed to his knees, his arms and shoulders bleeding from multiple large bites.

The stumpy man evidently found this quite funny, as he released a nasal laugh and sneered, "Well, well, it looks like the so called Demon of the Hidden Mist has been humbled quite a bit. Isn't that sad?"

"Damn it. This is the last thing we need. If only Gatō was alone, we'd be fine, and we could take him out and solve this problem once and for all," he explained, breathing heavily, "But as it stands, I'm almost out of energy, Zabuza and both of his students are in no shape to fight, you two look wiped, and no matter how much I believe in her, Sakura can't hold off a herd that size." He considered their options, and one idea came to mind. Turning to the Kyūbi host, he asked, "How much chakra do you have left, Naruto?"

The student in question looked somewhat surprised but responded honestly, "I mostly fought hand to hand, so I didn't burn through too much earlier. I'm probably at around 80%."

"Could you get more from your friend if you asked? We need an army of our own, and even with all of your chakra, you might not be able to create enough bodies," Kakashi elaborated, and Naruto quickly understood where he was going with this.

"No problem, just give me a few seconds to get ready," the blonde replied with a sly grin before closing his eyes in concentration.

"Kakashi." Hearing his name, the jōnin looked over and saw that Zabuza had made his way back to his feet, though he had to lean heavily on his sword to stay upright. While not life threatening, the dog bites were all bleeding, and he was panting from exhaustion. "Which one is sealed inside of him?"

The Copy Ninja briefly considered feigning ignorance, but it was obvious that the rogue was onto Naruto's pseudo-secret, so he decided to ask, "How did you know?"

"I'll tell you later, but let's just say that my defection from the Hidden Mist Village hasn't been conveyed truthfully in most bingo books," he replied ominously. Changing the subject, he asked, "Can that kid really produce enough Shadow Clones to take out Gatō's army?"

"You'd be surprised at what Naruto can do when he puts his mind to something, but to answer your question, I think he can, yes," Kakashi replied honestly.

"Then I would like a favor from you Hidden Leaf ninja. Leave Gatō to me. I want to finish that fat toad off by myself," the rogue hissed. His answer was a simple nod.

From the shoreline, feeling rather safe with his horde of thugs, Gatō raised his voice to heckle his hired ninja once more. "You're worthless, Zabuza," he cackled, "You've allowed yourself to be beaten by these lowlifes, and now you're resorting to asking for their help. I thought so much better of you!"

Naruto's eyes shot open, and they were filled with a blazing anger. "Shut up! Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted, and the bridge was soon filled with orange and black clothed blondes. The hired thugs started to shift nervously at the now formidable army they were forced to face, but a glare and bark from Gatō, and they began their charge towards the duplicate army. Sakura and Tazuna quickly made their way to safety behind the clones as they took off and engaged the band of renegades. The original was also preparing to join when Zabuza's voice calling his name stalled him.

"Hey, kid…Naruto, hold a second." Naruto turned back to see Zabuza gazing at the stumpy tyrant, who had moved to the back of the mob, with an odd look in his eyes. "I need a kunai, and my arms are all messed up, so I can't get one of mine. Could you give me one?" he asked softly. The blonde looked at him for a second and then nodded. He pulled one out and tossed one in the air, and Zabuza caught it in his uncovered mouth, as his bandages had loosened throughout the fight.

He took a charging run towards the all out brawl, which had quickly taken a turn in the favor of the clone army, and he weaved his way through the crowds. The ruffians were quick to notice, as they called out to their comrades to protect their employer, but because Naruto's clones had done such a good job in clearing their enemies out, Zabuza only took a few minor cuts from errant blades by the time he reached the back of the pack where Gatō was cowering.

"No, don't do it! Get away from me!" he screamed in fear, but the Demon of the Hidden Mist wasn't having any of it.

"Don't worry. You'll find out what true pain feels like when you're burning in hell," Zabuza grunted before he reared back and sliced the head off of the small man, permanently stopping him from ever endangering the world again. As the disembodied cranium fell to the concrete, and the headless corpse soon after, the now free Hidden Mist rogue fell to his knees and started crying in pure relief.

...xXx...

AN: Please review and stay tuned! The first flashback chapter is next and will definitely relate to Zabuza and the twins, and it will also wrap up this saga, as the next regular chapter will start back in the Hidden Leaf Village.

As a sort of change of pace, I'm going to include a review of each ninja because there has been some confusion about what the as-of-yet unexplained event did to change history. I hope this clears up some things, but I will still be keeping certain events under wraps for the sake of exposition at a later date. I hope that if I can finish this story to my satisfaction, I can do this again as part of a sort of celebratory final chapter. For now, I'm only going to do Naruto, his family, his team, and the Hidden Mist rogues (as they won't be appearing for a long time…but they will be coming back in a big way). I'll do the rest of the Rookie 9 and their instructors once there is a larger sample size to gauge their character (sometime during the chūnin exams, probably, so in a couple of chapters).

Overall: Raising the graduation age brings with it a lumping in of a few aspects that earned entire episodes into the anime. An obvious example is the lack of the tree climbing exercise in this chapter; that and the water walking exercise seem like basic facets of ninja training, so by graduation, all capable ninja can use their chakra to that degree. I also included the discovery of elemental affinities because in my expanded universe, part of being able to become a genin involves demonstrating a basic, but well rounded, set of skills that are useful within a combat situation. To me, that's a basic (but solid) understanding of taijutsu and genjutsu (how to keep up in a hand-to-hand fight and the ability to recognize illusions), basic academy ninjutsu, and an understanding of elemental affinity. Based on each individual student, they will learn more in the areas they are well versed in. As a result, the two characters that have been shown in the Rookie 9 to have a specific affinity already have basic skills in those areas. Don't worry, my goal isn't to make them overpowered; Rasengan and Chidori (and even summoning) will have to wait until similar points in the original.

Uzumaki Naruto: Obviously we'll start with him, being one of the protagonists of this story. While having parents in his life from the start seems like a major change, I was more interested in showing subtle differences and augmentations to his personality to make it fit better. As a result, the Naruto you see here is still the carefree, playful prankster, but it's also apparent that he has more discipline and paid much more attention in his classes for fear of his mother's wrath. This leads to him having more experience with Shadow Clones and a few basic Fūton techniques under his belt. He, like many of the other genin, are much more in tune with romance than their preteen counterparts, and I have already hinted at one of the relationships brewing in this tale involving this young man.

Namikaze Minato: I tried to keep his personality much the same as the original: an overall cheerful leader whose stern battle face hides under a guise of being the consummate family fan. Loyal and powerful, his true abilities have been teased a little against Mizuki (for those people who were complaining about him being too weak, the reason he was ensnared by the mud coffin was due to his surprise at Mizuki's abilities; what he saw and what he knew Mizuki to be capable of turned out to be very separate things, and as a result, he was caught unawares), and there is a very good reason for why he is alive right now. If you want a hint, look for someone who I have steadfastly **not **mentioned in the story thus far. The battle with Kurama will be the subject of probably a couple of the interlude chapters and will answer questions about many of the characters, but those won't pop up for awhile, so I get to keep everyone in suspense.

Uzumaki Kushina: Again, like her husband her personality is meant to match was little was given to us in the original: a powerful shinobi whose abilities are the origin of many of Naruto's own skills, with strong maternal instincts and a temper like no other. Also like her husband, there is a very specific reason why she is alive as well, and the Kurama battle chapters will answer a lot of these questions, as well as (surprise surprise and kudos to anyone who can figure it out) some of the more recent manga chapters (before Kaguya's dimension though). I also made her an excellent cook because it helps to balance out some of her faults and Minato's as well; it just makes sense to me that someone as skilled as the Yellow Flash would be an absolute disaster in the kitchen.

Uchiha Sasuke: Like I have already stated in previous chapters, I've been a bit coy with some of his details, and I'm going to keep it that way for probably a loooooooong time. There are some interesting things I have built into his background as a result of an extended rule of the Fourth Hokage, and you would not be incorrect if you guessed they involve the Uchiha clan massacre, something I have made a concerted effort to ignore up until now. Stay tuned with the story way down the line and I hope you'll be pleased with how that particular event plays out in a flashback chapter. Personality wise, he is still a somewhat quiet individual, though I made the effort to come to a balance between the two personalities we saw in the original: his happy childhood front and the gloom and doom face he put on for much of the series. That resulted in more quiet than emo, and I decided to give him a dry sense of humor, which was already somewhat part of his character anyways. Like Naruto, he has a basic knowledge of Katon techniques, and I gave him Shadow Clones as well because I always thought he had a decently large pool of chakra. Lots of mystery around Sasuke, he'll be an interesting one to work out as the story progresses.

Haruno Sakura: Some may not be too happy about the fan girl nature of the pinkette, but as you can tell in the chapters after her introduction, it was mostly a front just to annoy Ino, just like Ino did to annoy her (they are still very good friends as a result of their petty argument not being as catastrophic as it was in the original, something else that occurred as a result of an overall happier Hidden Leaf Village under Minato). Don't get me wrong, she still has a definite attraction to Sasuke, but it's more of a high school crush than a preteen obsession (in other words, the possibility of her getting over it is present, and yes, what I am implying here can be taken to heart for later on in the tale). She may have seemed very weak in comparison to Naruto and Sasuke, but I'm hoping this chapter and the last one changed that perception. Completely unrelated, but I made her parents into badasses just because they're never heard from in the show outside of that one movie. She deserves better, even if she grinds on all of our nerves.

Hatake Kakashi: Obviously, Kakashi is a more chipper individual as a result of his teacher not being dead. Never fear though, as you can tell, he is still a pervert, a habitually tardy individual (and doesn't feel any repent about it), and a ninja with a very well rounded set of skills (if you want a hint about the universe-altering event I've introduced, I just gave you one in that sentence that helps to narrow down when it might have occurred). He may have seemed weak against Zabuza, but honestly, for his part of the fight, I took it almost directly from the original; I saw no need to change much. The other half of the fight was the more radically different anyways.

Momochi Zabuza: The big, bad Demon of the Hidden Mist really didn't undergo much of a change, just maybe a light facelift. Obviously, having two students instead of just one is a drastic change, and I would like to think that the addition of a female into his every day life loosened him up a little. His skills are exactly the same, as are the way his battles play out, mostly because I didn't see a good reason to change them. The fights involving the two twins allow more diversity, so I just left Zabuza alone and focused my attention on his students' fights. We'll be seeing this crew again later on in the story, but when I say later on, I mean a **lot** later (pretty deep into post timeskip material) unless I change my mind. Just keep it in the back of your mind for reference.

Kōsetsu Shiro and Haku: First of all, and this goes for both twins, they didn't have a last name, and for some reason that **really** grinds on my nerves, so I gave them one. Look it up, it's the Japanese word for snowfall if you're interested. It sounded appropriate for them, so I went with it. As for their personalities, I attempted to split up the original Haku into two people. Shiro is very brash and confident in his skills, sometimes to the point of overconfidence, while Haku has a sort of nurturing spirit and deceptive cunning and strength. Though, after I say that, it sounds like I just turned Haku into a girl and created a new character. Whatever. If you remember the construction of Hyōton techniques, they are composed of wind and water elements; using that, Shiro has a better grasp of the wind half, while Haku is better at the water half. That's not to say they can't use the other element; they just aren't as skilled in it.


	6. (Flashback 1) Rise of the Demon

AN: The first of the expository chapters. This one will be Zabuza-centric after I decided as such after the last chapter was done. Hopefully this will be a welcome change to his character and explain why he seemed so much more docile and amenable to change. Of course, this chapter is based in fact but I made sure to keep some things fresh. Having the whole series done really helps to add in random details.

Also, speaking of which, skip down to the bottom if you don't mind spoilers/already know about the Naruto finale to hear my take on it. Overall, I was very pleased, but I am looking forward to some closure later on.

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

Flashback Chapter – Rise of the Demon of the Hidden Mist

_**Many years prior, in the Hidden Mist Village during the reign of the Fourth Mizukage**_

The Hidden Mist Village was truly a dark and gloomy place to live. Holding up to its reputation, the buildings were constantly surrounded by a hazy gloom that never seemed to ease, and as such, many residents had no idea what the sun truly looked like. Even in the early evening, it was hard to find a single soul on the streets. This would be odd in many other villages, given that it was graduation day at the academy, but the Hidden Mist Village was not like the other ninja sovereignties.

The graduation exam for this particular village was an all out battle royale, with teenagers fighting their longtime friends and comrades to the death in order to survive. Mere children who had grown up learning with, having fun with, even loving their peers were forced to slaughter them or fall to another of their classmates. It was a truly barbaric practice, and one that the other four major ninja villages condemned, but as it was a brainchild of the Fourth Mizukage, it was difficult to change the policy without a significant change up top. No one had any real idea why he had implemented such a horrific plan, but he wasn't someone that you questioned, so the practice remained in place.

This particular graduation had been particularly disturbing, even to those who championed the idea of this bloody rite of passage. The entire class of graduates had been thrown into one of the village's training grounds, as per usual, but the screams of horror and pleas for help had come to an abrupt halt ten minutes into the test. The chūnin and jōnin that had been assigned to guard the exits of the impromptu arena were starting to exchange looks of confusion when the noise didn't start again, and finally the captain of the multi-man squad told his underlings that he was going to investigate. The rest of his men redistributed themselves accordingly, and the captain soon disappeared within the forest.

What seemed like only moments later, a small figure emerged from the towering trees, someone shorter than the man who had just entered. As he drew closer to the fence that separated the grounds from the rest of the village, the chūnin and jōnin could only recoil in horror at the sight. The young man, no more than 13 or 14, was covered from head to toe in blood, and his face was terrifyingly calm and neutral in its expression. His blue, long-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts were stained crimson. In one hand, he held a simple kunai, and the object in his other, he chucked over the fence. "Take me to the Mizukage. Everyone else is dead," the young man murmured. The guards quickly scrambled to get the gates open, and they ushered him off back into the village, leaving behind the head of the squad leader, permanently frozen in shock, lying on the ground.

…xXx…

"Well, this is quite the quandary," the short-statured leader of the Hidden Mist Village mused as he looked at the young man, whose eyes were still gazed over.

Most of the residents of the village found their Mizukage to be quite the intimidating figure, but most were just plain creeped out by him. For someone who was in his late twenties, he didn't look the part; not even reaching five feet in stature, his dull stare was only augmented by the scar extending down from his left eye, and no one could ever tell what he was thinking at any given time. Following the death of the Second Mizukage in battle, having received wounds too egregious to recover from courtesy of the Second Tsuchikage, the position was filled by a benevolent ruler who made every effort to continue the era of peace that had perpetuated as a result of Hōzuki Gengetsu's efforts on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, that is what cost him his life. The previous host of the Three Tailed Turtle, the younger brother of the Second Mizukage, succumbed to illness, and a new host was needed. Short on time and suitable candidates, it was locked into his cousin, his closest living relative. Three weeks later, Yagura had taken rein of the village through brute force, leaving the Third Mizukage nothing more than a messy smear on the wall. And so, the age of the Village of the Bloody Mist began.

The ninja that had accompanied the young man to the office of the Mizukage had explained the situation to Yagura to the best of their ability, but they weren't privy to much of what had happened outside of seeing their leader's head in the hands of the silent young man. The short leader of the Hidden Mist Village observed the spiky haired youth, who had not yet even opened his mouth to breathe, and asked, "Young man, I must admit I am curious how you were able to overtake and neutralize an entire class of academy graduates when you have not even officially entered and started taking classes." His blank but playful eyes suddenly hardened, and no one noticed the flash of red as his voice grew gruff, "Explain yourself right now."

Momochi Zabuza finally made a sign of life, as he slowly lifted his head to meet the gaze of the teal-haired midget seated in from of him, and as he spoke, his voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. "There isn't much to say, Lord Mizukage. I just felt it prudent to make my abilities known to you in a timely fashion so you can make use of me in the best way that you see fit." All of the ninja in the room were confused by that statement, seemingly years ahead of the young man's age, even as he continued, "The class that I would have entered with was full of children loaded with potential, and the group that I took care of just earlier today were pitiful and weak, even after their studies."

"But who are you to judge whether or not they would be useful to me and the village?" Yagura pressed him, "Who's to say that none of them had any chance of becoming ninja of fame and prestige?"

"My Lord," and young Zabuza hesitated, trying to find the right words to both express what he wanted to correctly and to not anger the short ruler of the Hidden Mist Village, "Let me answer your question with a comparison." Seeing a wave of approval, he continued, "If you were forced to choose between counting on a battle royale, an event that is based in luck just as much as skill, producing a fine ninja 100 percent of the time, or allowing nature to take its course and having the best ninja survive and serve you for a long time, which would you choose?"

The reasoning of the bloodied boy admittedly impressed Yagura, and for that reason and that reason alone he chose to ignore his brazenness and answer him honestly. "You are truly an enigma, son, and yet I can't help but like the way you think. You truly have the best interests of the village in your mind, even though you aren't yet a loyal soldier under my command." He shifted his gaze up and locked eyes with the chūnin and jōnin that were still standing in the office. "Leave us. I have some things to discuss with this young man in private."

The appalled looks on their face said it all. "But sir!" "You can't be serious!" "Surely you aren't going to let him go scot-free!" they all blurted out, temporarily forgetting their place.

Yagura's eyes hardened once more, and the elder ninja froze in fear, not able to look away from the Fourth Mizukage's angry glare. "I gave you an order, and I expect you to follow it," he hissed, "_Do I make myself clear_?" They all jerked their heads in a motion that some might construe as affirmation, and their leader followed with a curt nod and another smoldering look that snapped them out of their stupor and had them running for the door.

Once the room had been cleared, Yagura turned his much calmer gaze towards the young man before him. "You intrigue me, young man, and I have the feeling you could be a great ninja given time and training. I don't know what kind of scheme you have cooked up, or whom you're trying to protect…" he didn't miss the slight twitch of Zabuza's eye but also paid it no mind, "…but I'll play along with it for now." His next statement took the young killer by surprise, though he made sure not to show it. "Go home and clean up, get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, you step into a whole new world, and I do hope you don't disappointment me." The hard tint returned to Yagura's eye, and this time Zabuza was sure he caught a crimson flash deep in his eyes, though it was gone as fast as it appeared. Maintaining his neutral expression, he bowed briefly and exited the room as quickly as he could.

As the door shut behind him, the Mizukage with looks of youth gained a battle-hardened sneer borne of countless conflicts and strife, well beyond the grasp of someone who was still relatively young. "I must keep an eye on that one," he murmured, his voice once again deepening to a level that wasn't his own.

…xXx…

The academy graduation "exam" was traditionally given at night, so by the time Zabuza was on his way home, it was well past midnight, and there was no one on the streets. He was actually quite glad about that; it might be the last time he could walk around in the village without people looking at him.

Momochi Zabuza came from rather humble backgrounds. His father was originally a ninja of the Hidden Mist Village. Not particularly strong or clever, he was an average talent but one that made a steady living. Unfortunately, not having any special skills is what cost him his career. His team was ambushed during an escort mission, and while he was the only survivor, he also lost both limbs on the right side of his body, effectively ending his job as a Hidden Mist shinobi. More than once he had considered the possibility that if he had been brought up in the Bloody Mist era, his father probably would not have survived the academy graduation exam.

On the other hand, he had no idea who his mother was, and no one that was close to his family divulged any information about her. Whether that was because they honestly didn't know anything or there was something to hide, he didn't have any idea, but judging by the amount of time his father spent frequenting strip clubs and the red light district, the young Zabuza was more inclined to say his mother was just some passing fancy.

It wasn't something that worried the boy, as odd as that may sound. Thanks to how much of a slob his father had turned into as a result of his permanent injuries, Zabuza had long since learned how to live as a loner. He woke himself up at the crack of dawn, and he had already basically taught himself everything that he would have learned at the academy. He cooked, cleaned, shopped, did mostly everything for both him and his father. Looking back on it years later, in a moment of nostalgia, he found it odd how his lazy, worthless bum of a father could make it to the seediest parts of the Hidden Mist Village with seemingly no assistance but he had neither the time nor motivation to keep his living space somewhat hospitable.

Thanks to the streets being completely bare, he was home in no time. He and his father lived in an old, one story house on the outskirts of the village. It wasn't falling down, but thanks to his father's laziness it wasn't in peak condition either. Zabuza made no effort to hide his entrance; he fully expected to be greeted by complete silence or wall rattling snores. The former held true, and the note that the young man had left on the kitchen table lay untouched. He had written that he had gone off to a training ground to practice, and as he grabbed some fruit from the somewhat bare refrigerator, he allowed himself a small chuckle at how he hadn't told a lie.

The moment he entered his room, though, the floodgates opened, and all of the emotions he had blocked off came rushing out in full force. He didn't even make it to his bed, instead collapsing on the spot and crying uncontrollably. The façade he put on get through the first part of his plan dissolved the moment that he was safely in the privacy of his own home.

The truth was, he wasn't a cold-blooded killer, and he honestly had no desire to be. There was no reason for those academy students to die, but he had no choice but to take them out of commission to make a point to the Fourth Mizukage. Luckily, the man was a volatile despot, so putting on a show of carnage and directly challenging the man to his face was the optimal way to grab his attention and keep it.

Still sniffling, he crawled over to the desk in the corner of his room and slipped under where the chair would normally rest. Poking the underside of the wood, right where a knot remained, he opened a secret compartment and pulled out some papers covered in his illegible scrawl. Those were hidden for a reason, as they had some rather incriminating things on them that others did not need to be laying their eyes on. He wasn't a hardened criminal by any stretch of the imagination, but there were many ideas that floated in his mind that, if they could be fulfilled, would drastically change the course of the Hidden Mist Village.

Flashing through the makeshift files, he quickly found one and removed it from the rest. Zabuza crumpled up that one and left his room momentarily, returning with his father's ashtray and some matches. The young slayer quickly set alight the paper in his hand and left it to burn in the porcelain bowl as he set his attention back to the files laid out in front of him.

Being fairly sure that he could predict even the most basic of moves that the mentally unstable Mizukage could come up with, he anticipated being taken away the next morning for advanced training. No doubt Yagura was licking his chops at having a cold blooded killer in his hands to mold in any way he desired, and for Zabuza, having achieved what he had wanted through his shocking and heinous act of slaughter earlier in the day, he could rest easy that she would be safe.

Yes, the true reason behind his machinations lay in a photograph in the middle of the papers on his floor. It was a well-worn picture and showed two people. One was a younger version of the young man gazing at it fondly, and the other was a slightly older girl. Due to the photograph's age and handling, her features were somewhat warped, but as it was, she had long hair that appeared tan, eyes that were a dull shade of either green or brown, and a simple blue sundress. Both children appeared to be in a state of pure bliss, laughing about a joke of years past no doubt.

Zabuza picked up the photograph and held it carefully, as the edges were already quite frayed; committing what remained of the image to memory before gently placing it in the ashtray and returning his attention to the files. One by one, he labored to memorize every bit of information on each of the papers before ripping them up and adding them to the small blaze in his father's ashtray until nothing was left but a pile of ash. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and stretched out, somewhat sore after sitting on the floor for so long. He walked out for a moment before returning with a glass of water, which he guzzled down quickly. The next thing that he did was take the ash and dump it in the toilet, flushing it away into the sewage system and permanently destroying any evidence he had.

To a passing observer this might have seemed odd, overly cautious, even neurotic, but Zabuza was no fool despite his age. He was well aware that the moment he was taken away by Yagura's most trusted instructors the following morning, the stealth and intelligence corps would raid this house and look for any possible reason to label the young man a traitor or threat or anything unhealthy to the welfare of the village. They would probably even interrogate his father, for all the good that would do. There was practically no communication between father and son, so they wouldn't get anything out of him. Still, he wasn't planning on leaving anything up to chance. His room was bare even as it was, with only a few books and scrolls lying around and the clothes in his closet counting as his worldly possessions.

He glanced at those educational materials, neatly arranged on his desk, and thought about their contents. Most of them were basic academy texts that he had taken a look at briefly, but one in particular stood out. Zabuza was banking on the swordplay scroll, along with the sword he had discarded in the training ground, to catch their attention. Being a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist granted one much more power than the average jōnin, and in order for his plan to work, he had to grind his way there. His clues would hopefully help push that along quicker.

Satisfied with his work, the young man quietly prepared himself for bed and retreated for the night.

…xXx…

Just as he had anticipated, the next morning he was awakened by Yagura's finest jōnin instructors and taken to the Hidden Mist Village's special education center. There, Zabuza spent the next few years undergoing some of the harshest, painful, mind-numbingly difficult training known to the shinobi world. His body was broken and put back together more times than he could remember, and a host of training regimens and supplements quickly led to the development of a body matched by few of his peers. The Mizukage's best intelligence experts challenged his mind in a daily basis, but he held firm in the face of interrogation techniques on the level of those of the Yamanaka clan of the Hidden Leaf Village.

His ploy to lay the seed of interest in the higher-ups in the Hidden Mist Village appeared to take hold rather fast, as part of his training involved learning how to wield a sword at a high level of proficiency. Zabuza's hopes were somewhat dampened because it turned out that one year in, he was introduced into the ANBU corps, having quickly risen in the ranks from genin to chūnin to jōnin at the time of his induction. Yagura's high hopes for the young man who had singlehandedly forced a change in the academy's curriculum and final examination were not unfounded.

Now in his early teens, he stood tall, armed with a basic sword granted to all agents who were members of ANBU. With age came more mature clothing, opting to show off his body for intimidation purposes instead of covering up to protect from the sea breezes that the Hidden Mist Village was famous for. He wore a long-sleeved back bodysuit, over which he wore the ANBU-style armor. Missions were frequent and often quite deadly and dangerous, but he reveled in the opportunity. Being in a position of relative authority and excelling at his job meant that chances to impress the increasingly unstable Yagura were plentiful.

…xXx…

Only a year into his service as an agent of the Hidden Mist ANBU (and barely two after his bloody introduction to the village), he was called into the Mizukage's office without any apparent reason. Holding out some small hope that it was actually related to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, he entered and immediately had to stifle his reaction.

Seated at his desk as usual was Yagura, looking extremely angry. Zabuza briefly wondered if he was losing his touch on reality, possibly as a result of the Three Tailed Turtle residing within him; the pupils of the eyes of the Hidden Mist's leader were constantly shrunken, the bags under his eyes had grown progressively more pronounced over the years, and he could never keep his gaze focused on one particular area for longer than a few seconds.

Scattered around the room were four other men. Akebino Jinin was seated closest to the door that Zabuza had just entered, sitting on top of the giant hammer that made up half of his sword, Kabutowari. The other half, the giant axe head blade, was propped up against the wall behind him. His expression was neutral, but as the new arrival entered, Zabuza felt the beady eyes of Jinin bore into his skull, following his every move. He was the leader of the seven swordsmen, and his domineering personality was a perfect fit for the position he was in.

On the opposite side of the room, looking for all the world like he was sleeping with the way he was slouched against the wall, was Kuriarare Kushimaru. Because of the mask on his face, there was no way to tell where he was looking or what he was feeling, but by the way he was delicately tapping the longsword, Nuibari, against his hand, and the muted cackling from behind his mask, Zabuza couldn't help but feel a chill. The masked man slowly turned his head towards the new arrival, and the spiky haired teen quickly shifted his attention elsewhere.

Seated in a chair close to the Mizukage's desk, unlike his other teammates, was Kurosuki Raiga. Kiba, his twin swords, were holstered to his back, and he kept his eyes closed even as the young ANBU agent entered the room. Possibly the most peaceful of the seven swordsmen, not once did he look up or open his eyes, almost as if he wasn't interested at all in the proceedings.

Finally, Suikazan Fuguki was squeezed into the space on the other side of Yagura's desk, sitting cross-legged. A hulking behemoth of a man, his miniscule eyes briefly took in Zabuza before moving elsewhere. His personal weapon, Samehada, lay on the floor in front of him. He was Raiga's antithesis; everyone in the Hidden Mist Village was well aware of Fuguki's cruel nature. The fat man reveled in any chance to bend the rules and take advantage of his power, and he knew he could get away with it.

Zabuza's gaze took in each individual member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, noting that only four of them were present. Even more of interest were the three swords lying on a table erected in front of Yagura's desk, their owners not present in the office.

The aforementioned leader looked up and smiled somewhat manically at seeing Zabuza standing in his office. "Ah, Momochi, thank you so much for coming on short notice."

The young man took another glance around the room and in a somewhat nervous tone asked, "It wasn't a problem, sir, but I am not sure I understand why exactly I am here." A huff from Jinin and a louder cackle from Kushimaru only served to confuse him further.

Yagura's expression grew sour, and he spluttered, "Well, I was hoping this would be on better terms than this, but as a result of a run in with some Hidden Leaf Ninja, I find myself down three of my seven swordsmen, and we need to replace them as soon as possible." Glaring at Jinin in particular, he continued, "A _genin_ somehow managed to kill the owners of the three swords you see before you before the rest of the squad managed to take him out. Since we were suddenly down three of our best ninja, replacements had to be found rather quickly. After a long deliberation with the _remaining_," and again, he sent a smoldering glare towards Jinin, who steadfastly refused to meet his eyes, "four swordsmen, and careful examination of your records, we have chosen you to be one of the three replacements."

Zabuza's eyes widened as he took in the fact that he was being inducted into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Realizing that he needed to express his gratitude, he spluttered, "Thank you sir! I am flattered that you would even consider me as a candidate for this group."

Yagura immediately sent him a look that quieted him, and the diminutive leader snapped, "You're here to fight, not talk, Momochi. Do not waste my time." He gestured to the weapons lying on the table and said, "Take your pick of swords. The sword chooses the owner, so you will know the moment you touch the correct one which one you are destined to yield." Waving his hand at him, Yagura spun his chair around, clutching his head in his hands as if it was in pain.

The newly coined swordsman slowly approached the table, noting that all four swordsmen had grown quiet and still and were observing him carefully, even Raiga whose eyes had finally opened. His options were somewhat odd. There was a flat bladed sword that looked like there was a scroll wrapped around it, the second one was a large, shellfish-shaped sword wrapped in bandages and appearing to require two hands to use, and a final one which the now former ANBU agent was drawn to. It was a long blade, with a large hole at the end of the blade and a semicircle cutout near the base. He picked it up, and even though it was quite heavy, he liked the feel and simplicity of it. Furthermore, just as Yagura had said, he went an immediate connection to the blade through his chakra, as if there was some kind of special ability hidden within the sword. "I like this one," he said simply, "It has a nice edge, good length for my stature, and I feel a connection with it, like Lord Mizukage said."

Still turned around, Zabuza saw the village leader wave his hand in dismissal, "Good, now get the hell out of here. Your elders have to initiate you into the group and train you in the use of the sword." While he didn't necessarily like the sound of the "initiation," he nodded and turned to Jinin, who was snickering in amusement.

The short man instantly grinned and hissed, "Let's go, Momochi. We have a lot to do today…" and he swept his arm in a mocking deferral to the youngest member of the swordsmen.

…xXx…

The newest member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist was quickly introduced into the fold via more excruciating body enhancements and training. His well toned body gained even more muscle, and his teeth were sharpened into points, as was customary for members of the group. Missions were performed either in teams of three or, in more important or dire situations, the whole seven man squad. The other two spots were filled quickly after he joined: a young man from the Hidden Mist Village's Hōzuki clan named Mangetsu, and a man called Munashi Jinpachi.

The silver haired Mangetsu was a quiet individual, but he was constantly asking all of the other members of the group about their swords, even training with them in their free time with all of the other weapons. He was a quick learner, and in only a couple of months, he had become basically proficient in all seven swords. His best was of course the one that had been granted to him, Hiramekarei, and Zabuza was surprised at how well the quiet young man could wield his own weapon, Kubikiribōchō. Mangetsu's younger brother Suigetsu was a promising prospect at joining the organization later in his life, and often when the older brother was out on missions, and no one else was on hand to spar with him, Zabuza would practice with the younger Hōzuki, even letting him use the long sword every now and then.

Jinpachi wasn't as talented in swordsmanship as his partners, though he was much more proficient than regular ninja, but what he lacked in finesse he made up through pure brute force and disregard for his surroundings. His blast sword Shibuki didn't require direct contact to cause egregious injuries, and his fighting style often brought him into conflict with Kushimaru. The former believed in getting the job done in any way necessary, even sacrificing comrades to do so, while the latter (despite his unstable façade) preferred killing with a touch of finesse.

For a few years, the band of 7 worked without any change or turnover, executing missions at a high level of efficiency and eliminating targets swiftly. Their reputation was without equal, and there was no greater force in the land than the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist in that time.

It wasn't meant to last, though. The first moment of discord occurred when Raiga defected with no warning whatsoever, leaving his weapons behind. It was rumored that he had become disillusioned with the ways of the village, and his betrayal was only a matter of when, not if. Other rumors floated around that he had left with a young boy in his care, though they were unsubstantiated. His spot was filled by Ameyuri Ringo, a sickly young girl whose talent with Kiba was unmatched. She was a rare skill with swords, but her life couldn't stand the hard lifestyle that was required of a swordsman in the Hidden Mist Village, and she perished soon after joining. Mysteriously, the twin swords disappeared soon after her death, and they were not seen again. As a result, the last spot couldn't be filled, and the seven shrunk to six.

The next issue followed soon after. One of Fuguki's subordinates, a scary intelligence agent by the name of Hoshigaki Kisame, slaughtered his master, seemingly in cold blood, and took his sword, declaring himself to be the replacement for the puffer fish man. Yagura was in favor of the shark man's actions once evidence surfaced showing that the elder swordsman was secretly feeding information out of the village in return for kickbacks.

However, the problems that had caused Kisame to torture and eliminate the traitorous Fuguki soon led to issues with the village as a whole, and a few months after joining, constantly increasing intelligence pointing to a Hidden Mist ninja performing unauthorized assassinations and attacking the lord of a foreign country led to Kisame's bloody departure from the village.

…xXx…

_**A few months after Kisame and Raiga's departure**_

"What has happened to this village, Momochi?" Yagura groaned, "Why is everything going to hell? We've lost two swordsmen as traitors, another one to illness. The citizens are getting unruly, and the ninja are not doing what I say half of the time."

From the other side of the desk, where he could only see his lord's reflection in the mirror, Zabuza took note of how gaunt the Mizukage's face appeared. It had only been a few years since he had entered office, but in that time he had appeared to age decades. "Sir, please don't take this the wrong way, but we all can use some down time every now and then," he suggested tentatively, "Maybe it might do your body and mind some good to take a few days off?"

He heard a sigh from behind the chair, and the voice that came out was much deeper than before, "I will rest once I have taken care of business here." The chair spun around, and Zabuza once more noticed the red glint in his leader's eye that he believed to have seen when he was younger and more naïve. Now, older and shrewder, he recognized the sign of an outside influence on his leader. However, he kept his mouth shut and listened as Yagura continued, "Would you be willing to help me with an idea that I have? I could use someone with your power and influence to make sure everything goes smoothly, and after all of the debacles that have beset your group, you are the only one I trust implicitly."

The Demon of the Hidden Mist briefly found it amusing that the diminutive leader found him to be an ally, but he buried that emotion and said plainly, "What do you have in mind, Lord Mizukage?"

Yagura, or whoever/whatever was controlling him, stroked his chin in quiet contemplation, observing the jōnin before him. "As I alluded to before, it has come to my attention that the ninja of this village have begun to feel uneasy. It's becoming increasingly more difficult to get certain shinobi to cooperate with their mission orders, and I feel that action needs to be taken."

Zabuza was somewhat confused by that statement; he was privy to a lot of information and intelligence regarding the activities of the village and of the villagers, and he had heard nothing of this. He decided that the best plan of attack was to play coy and ask, "If you don't mind my asking, Lord Mizukage, what group is this? I haven't heard anything about this." Almost immediately, his eyes were locked with those of the village leader, and he couldn't help but feel some fear due to the menacing look he was receiving.

"Not a problem, my boy," he replied calmly, "Are you aware of the rise in the number of families within the village that carry kekkei genkai within their bloodlines?" Zabuza's blood ran cold, but he nodded silently, "Just to name a few, the Kōsetsu clan and their Hyōton techniques and the Futton (Boil Style) of the Terumī clan have been growing in power. The Kaguya have never been loyal to the village, though they have had their uses as mercenaries. I have even heard reports that the husband of the matriarch of the Terumī, a refugee from the Hidden Rock Village, carries the Yōton (Lava Style) in his blood, and the heir to the clan has inherited both of her parents' abilities." By now, the wielder of Kubikiribōchō was sweating, struggling just to keep his cool.

"Sir, again please don't take this the wrong way, but all interactions I have had with associates from those clans have been nothing but positive, excluding the Kaguya as you have already mentioned," Zabuza said slowly, "I would personally limit their movements in the village, as I have heard unsubstantiated rumors of rebellion within their ranks, but the other two have done nothing but be loyal to the Hidden Mist. There are hardly any Kōsetsu left to cause any problems to you, and the Terumī occupy key roles in the management of the village."

"Loyalty is nothing if their potential could lead to strife," Yagura growled in response, "I do agree with you about the Kaguya. They need to be dealt with in a timely manner, but the other two need to be eradicated as soon as possible. In fact, that's why I called you in here today."

"What do you mean, sir?" the swordsman asked nervously, not liking at all where this conversation was turning.

"Earlier today, I actually received a report that the one remaining family of the Kōsetsu clan was killed. Indications are that it was a murder-suicide involving the parents. The children haven't been located, but the entire house was destroyed by giant ice spears, so it might take awhile to sort out what happened, and it is hard to believe that they survived something like that," Yagura mused, his face still twisted in a hideous smirk, "And the Kaguya will be dealt with as soon as they rebel. I already have teams in place, specially designed to counteract the abilities of their clan, to wipe them out for good."

"That's…good, sir," the swordsman replied slowly, "I see you have taken quick action with this."

The short leader chuckled in amusement. "I'm so glad you approve of my decisions, Momochi, so I hope you approve of the job I am about to give you." The young man before him gulped anxiously but nodded for Yagura to continue. "Since many of my men are preoccupied with these other tasks, and the other swordsmen have been…disappointing to say the least, I need you to do take care of the last duty. It's rather appropriate seeing as she probably exists due to you convincing me to get rid of my graduation plan… I need you eradicate the Terumī."

Zabuza was stunned into silence, but he made sure to keep his face set in a neutral expression. Realizing that he needed to say something in order to not draw suspicion, he asked carefully, "How do you want me to proceed?"

"Do as you see fit," was his reply, "If you need a team, fine. If you want to do it alone, fine. Just do it. You have until dusk tomorrow. Dismissed." The crazed leader swung his chair back around and said no more.

The Demon of the Hidden Mist wasted no time in leaving the main building and heading back to his apartment. His small accommodations were eerily similar to those of his old room at his father's house. His possessions were next to nonexistent and consisted of a few changes of clothes, weapons, and scrolls. Those he quickly consolidated and stowed away into a blank scroll using a storage seal, and after checking to make sure he had not left anything behind and his gear was fully stocked, he left his meager lodging for the last time.

The Terumī clan was housed near the outskirts of town, which played to Zabuza's advantage as he raced there, praying to whatever deities existed that he would be able to pull this off. They were not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but they had enough money to live comfortably. The swordsman knocked on the door to the main house and impatiently waited for someone to answer.

Luckily the very person he needed to see came to the door. A true beauty, Terumī Mei was one of the original benefactors of Zabuza's actions during the last "Bloody Mist" graduation exam, as she had grown into a fine Hidden Mist shinobi. Having been blessed with two kekkei genkai thanks to her unique background, she was the definition of deadly grace, with stunning good looks and unbelievable talent. As the young swordsman looked at her, even in his panic, he kept her at the forefront of her mind, forever the girl in the picture permanently imprinted in his mind. Childhood friends from near birth, he wouldn't let anyone get their hands on her unless they went through his dead body.

She looked alarmed at how harried the young man before her had appeared on her doorstep, and she asked, "Zabuza, what's wrong?"

Cutting straight to the point, he replied, "You need to get out of here. I was just ordered to exterminate your clan, and we don't have much time for you to get out of here." He peered into the house behind her and didn't see anyone. "Are your parents at home?"

Mei could hardly believe what she was hearing, but she shook her head in response, sending her mahogany waves rippling down her back. "No, they're both out on missions. I'm the only one at home right now."

"Good," Zabuza breathed in relief, thankful that at least one thing had gone right, "How fast can you pack all of your things?"

The talented beauty looked unsure but she gave her best estimate, "If I hurry, probably five minutes."

"Go," was all her companion said, and it was all that the Terumī heir needed to retreat back into her home, while Zabuza stood guard outside of the house, keeping his eyes trained for anyone suspicious coming near the large home.

Sure enough, she reappeared with a scroll in hand, and Zabuza grabbed her hand and started running to the village exit, luckily not far away. "What's Lord Mizukage thinking?" Mei asked herself, "Why would he do this?"

"It isn't him." Startled, the beauty looked to her partner for explanation. "At least, it isn't all him. Someone is controlling him. I saw it in his eyes. Almost looked like a Sharingan genjutsu but I couldn't be sure." Mei was stunned into silence as all of the information of the past few minutes seeped into her brain, and Zabuza did likewise as they neared the exit.

As usual, the guard on duty came out to greet them, but bandages shielded his face, so the two fleeing ninja couldn't identify him. His voice was muffled as he casually walked into their path, causing them to screech to an abrupt halt. "Where are you to headed off to in such a big hurry?" he drawled, "Maybe a rendezvous out in the woods? You do know that's against the rules."

Ignoring Mei's blush at the implication, Zabuza replied carefully, "We were just going to get some training in, that's all. If you think that there's more to it than that, feel free to come with us and see."

The guard's mouth turned up in a definite smirk, even through the bandages. "Training, huh? You must have some intense workouts planned if she's going to be dead by the time you're done with her." Both would-be escapees froze in panic, and they watched in horror as the man before them dissolved into a puddle of water and reformed into a tall man.

With silver hair falling lightly around his face, and elegant robes betraying his high status within the village, Hōzuki Shingetsu was an intimidating figure. It was common knowledge that he was next in line for the seat of village leader, and his pedigree spoke for itself. As the father of both Mangetsu and Suigetsu, and the son of the Second Mizukage, he was an ideal fit to take over for Yagura when the time was right, and his battlefield prowess was second to none in the Hidden Mist Village. Basically, he was the last person they needed to encounter, and it was compounded by the fact that he was apparently in on the Mizukage's plan. "I know my sons think quite highly of you, Zabuza, and I would be willing to overlook this if you just complete the mission you were assigned right here, right now," the heir apparent said smoothly, "You have been nothing but loyal to this village from the start, and I would hate to stain your perfect record or dirty my hands with your blood."

Dropping any pretense of getting out of the situation without a fight, Zabuza turned back to Mei and whispered to her, "He's not going to let us get out of here alive without a fight. While I occupy his attention, I need you to run. Run as hard as you can, and don't look back. If I can get past him, I'll meet you where we used to play when we were kids." His partner looked like she wanted to argue, but a smoldering look cut off her objections, and she took off into the woods, past the smirking Shingetsu who didn't make a move to stop her.

"You're going to let her go?" Zabuza asked dubiously.

The Mizukage candidate shrugged. "I'd rather enjoy our time together, young Zabuza. She'll be taken care of in no time, just like I took care of her parents." He pulled his hands out of his pockets, and the blood that covered him was damning evidence. The swordsman only saw red, and he charged at the man before him in a blind rage.

…xXx…

Zabuza staggered through the woods, clutching at the oozing wound across his gut. He was bleeding from numerous small cuts on his body, and his sword had been reduced to half of its normal size thanks to a shattering blow delivered to it during the fight. Luckily, his open wounds were serving to slowly regenerate the blade, as per the special ability it held.

He had no idea how he had managed to defeat Hōzuki Shingetsu, and he was unaware of how long he had been wandering, but he slowly came to realize that he had arrived in the meeting place he had indicated earlier. His heart dropped as it became painfully apparent that Mei was not there, and he collapsed against a tree and closed his eyes to rest.

…xXx…

The feared Demon of the Hidden Mist never saw Terumī Mei again, and after the apparent murder of the Mizukage candidate by his hands, he was labeled as an international criminal and placed on every village's watch lists. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that this was all part of Yagura's plan. He somehow knew that Zabuza wasn't a blindly loyal gremlin under his command, and he also knew about the connection between him and the powerful beauty, and he had used that to his advantage to eliminate yet another obstacle in his path.

He had awoken to two small children tending to his wounds, and to his surprise, he recognized them as the two missing heirs to the Kōsetsu clan. They helped him get to his feet, and he followed them to a small cave hidden away in the woods, where it was apparent that they had been hiding out. They cared for the Hidden Mist rogue there until he had sufficiently recovered from his wounds. As academy students, they were decently skilled in basic ninjutsu, and so Zabuza took it upon himself to become their teacher. Even as outcasts from their village, they still held themselves as proud Hidden Mist shinobi, and as such, their master was able to orchestrate a risky operation to insert their names into the secret ninja rosters and procure two Mist headbands to identify them as such. He never revealed to them how he did it, but let's just say he was damn lucky that Mangetsu wasn't bitter about Zabuza murdering his father. Both sons had never liked the man since he was a true bastard.

News coming out of the Hidden Mist Village was sparse and censored, but from what the Demon of the Hidden Mist could piece together, the three major clans that had kekkei genkai running in their blood no longer existed, and the remaining scattered ninja who carried abilities either inherited from immigrants or dying bloodlines had been taken care of as well. The village was on complete lockdown at this point, seeing as three of the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were no longer in the possession of the village, and the ninja leader had grown too paranoid to allow anyone powerful to get anywhere near him.

In a way, it was a good thing that he was now a rogue. Playing off of Yagura's paranoia, there were never many squads available to hunt for the three rogue swordsmen, so he and the twins were never in that much danger. As such, the impromptu three-man squad had no trouble slipping out of the Land of Water into the adjacent Land of Waves. Using some of the money Zabuza had managed to bring with him, they were able to purchase some land in a forest and construct a rather comfortable tree house, well camouflaged amongst the trees. There they lived rather peacefully, taking odd jobs to make ends meet as mercenaries and hired ninja.

The lifestyle was fine, but Zabuza still pined to free the Hidden Mist Village from whoever was controlling Yagura, and such he began searching for jobs that paid well. He knew that he would need a lot of money and resources to start gathering ninja to his cause. What he had told the Fourth Mizukage in his office previously wasn't completely true. There were plenty of rumblings in the underground about how unsatisfied they were with the direction the village was taking, and he knew that with a little motivation, he could get a sizeable force under his command.

Zabuza was soon alerted to an opportunity that would pay more than enough money to kickstart his plan. The mission seemed simple enough. According to the man who was backing the directive, a diminutive head of a shipping conglomerate named Gatō, all he was required to do was neutralize a protection detail of a bridge builder. According to Gatō, the architect was threatening to damage everything his business stood for, and delivering him to the shipping CEO would solve all of Gatō's problems as well as delivering a sizeable payday to the former ninja swordsman.

…xXx…

_**The present day, a week after Gatō's fall in the Land of Waves**_

Zabuza and his two protégés stood on a cliff overlooking a sprawling plantation on the far side of the Land of Waves. Being assassins for hire for the slumlord had of course meant they were privy to the location of his headquarters, and now that he was gone from the world for good, it meant that he no longer needed it, and the three rogues could take it and use it for their own purposes.

"This will do nicely to get us started," he murmured softly. Flanked on either side by a twin, he looked at both of them in turn. "Starting today, we are no longer rogues, and we are not running away from the law. We are ninja of the Hidden Mist Village, and we will fight until we breathe our last to take back our village from that midget despot."

Shiro grinned in anticipation. "I cannot wait to stick my foot up that little runt's ass."

"Brother, please," her brother admonished him, before adding slyly, "He'll be too busy being frozen alive and buried underneath the sea for you to get anywhere near him."

"Cut it out, you two," their master said before grinning evilly, "There won't be a piece of him left larger than my pinkie when I get done with him. You'll just have to settle for whatever is left of the Seven Ninja Swordsman." Both twins chuckled lightly, and the stern expression returned to Zabuza's face. "Now, let's get to work. I imagine there are still quite a few henchmen down there that need to be cleared out before we can start using it as our base of operations." He flexed his arms, which were mostly healed from his fight with Kakashi, and unsheathed his sword. "Who's ready for a workout? Least number of kills has to make dinner…" Before he had even finished talking, both twins had disappeared from view. "I guess I earned that…it's about time I put those two in their place again." With a fiendish grin on his face, he leapt off of the cliff, hopeful for the first time in what seemed like forever.

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned! I hope you liked my spin on Zabuza's backstory! This will be the last time he and the twins appear for a long time, though they may be mentioned in passing somewhat earlier.

**Review Responses:**

**Kronus96:** Thanks! He wasn't prepared for Mizuki to know things that he wasn't supposed to know. That's the only reason.

**justsomerealguy:** Thanks! No problem!

SPOILER TIME!

But that Naruto finale…OMG NARUTO'S DAUGHTER IS PRECIOUS. I can't stand how cute she is. I guess they had to do that in order to balance out how much of a shithead his son is. I do agree with Kishimoto's decision to make him that way as a sort of repeat of history, but still…kid's a mess.

Very happy with Naruto and Hinata, I can deal with Sasuke and Sakura, very happy with Shikamaru and Temari, pleasantly surprised with Kiba and Tamaki, Sai and Ino is kinda meh, and then holy shit, where did Chōji and Karui come from? Their daughter is actually pretty cool, along with her apparent BFF fat-Anko, but still, out of left field much?

There are a lot of loose ends (like where did Orochimaru slink off to?) but he covered all of the important aspects quite well, and I'm hoping that Kishimoto will cover some of the open storylines at a later date in interviews or something…like he could have done in the last databook (but apparently didn't want to). I'm somewhat mystified by the decision to release the 4th databook without including the last 5-10 chapters worth of information. It just seems to me that it would have been better just to clump all of that into one publication.


	7. (Chūnin Exams 1) Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Chūnin Exams) Chapter 6 – Move Out! The Chūnin Exams Loom!

"…and that's what happened, sensei. It was not at all what we expected, that's for sure," Kakashi explained. He was standing in the Hokage's office, giving his post-mission report for the Land of Waves mission. Minato was sitting behind his desk, patiently listening to his former student. A copy of the written report lay on his desk.

"Well, it certainly sounds like your team had a chaotic time on their trip," he replied, "I trust they learned some valuable lessons?" Kakashi nodded, though his eye was focused on his Icha Icha Paradise book in front of his face. Minato shook his head in amused disbelief. "Kakashi, are you listening to me?"

His student's visible eye looked up before he put the small book away with an obvious show of regret. "Yeah, yeah, I am. I worked with Sakura on her genjutsu. From what she described to me, she was aware of her potential in that area, but she was never encouraged to focus on it at the academy, and her parents wanted to her to forge her own path instead of blindly following their lead. She honestly seems to want to learn genjutsu in an official capacity, so she's been working with a scroll of some of her family's basic techniques."

Minato nodded, looking extremely impressed. "I'll be sure to tell Kizashi about that the next time I see him. I know he'll be pleased." Kakashi nodded distractedly, immersed once again in his book, but his teacher wasn't done with him yet. "Now…what about the boys?"

"You've probably already heard about it from him or Naruto, but Sasuke's Sharingan awakened during the trip, so starting with our next training session, I'll begin training him in its use. I had them spar against each other, with some restrictions on Naruto so that both of them could improve their skill hand to hand combat," the silver haired jōnin explained, and Minato nodded as he listened carefully. "Your son was locked into only a few clones and no chakra supplements, so he learned to fight without the crutch of his special abilities, and Sasuke was able to increase his speed and reaction time by fighting multiple opponents that were faster than him. Both of them showed improvement in those areas. As for their ninjutsu, I have nothing but good things to say. Both have shown a well rounded repertoire of techniques for their age and skill level, and I believe that Sakura will catch up to them before long. Her only limit at the moment is her chakra level, and that will improve after she trains with Naruto on a regular basis."

"Excellent!" the blonde Hokage said happily, "Is there anything else?"

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment before something came to mind. "Actually, there is. I think my team deserves to have the mission upgraded to A-ranked for all of the trouble that we had to go through," he said bluntly, "Is it possible to get our pay increased to reflect that?"

Minato thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, I think that can be arranged. I'll deposit the pay into your account and deliver the rest of it to your students by myself."

"That sounds good. If that's all, sensei, I'll be off," and Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke.

…xXx…

Ever since Namikaze Minato became the Fourth Hokage, and especially after the Kyūbi affair was taken care of, his goal was to introduce some life into the village through positive change and good will throughout the countries of the world. It was very difficult, especially considering the ill will still present between the Hidden Leaf Village and other major ninja villages, especially with Hidden Rock and Hidden Sand. He still put a lot of effort into his endeavors, and he was slowly getting the other countries to open up and loosen the grudges they held over the wars, especially those involving his involvement.

One of those changes was the introduction of a type of welcoming ceremony to open the Chūnin Exams. Because it was the lone time that ninja from all of the villages gathered in a mostly neutral capacity, Minato thought it might be a worthwhile idea to foster some good will whenever the examinations were held in the Hidden Leaf Village. Of the five main villages, Hidden Sand's Kazekage, Rasa, was the only one amenable to a cooperative relationship. The Tsuchikage and Raikage wanted nothing to do with Minato and the village for personal reasons, and the Hidden Mist Village was in such a state of turmoil that the Hokage frankly wished he didn't ever receive a confirmation of travel from their delegates.

This year, in addition to the sizeable home group participating in the exams, there was a surprisingly large contingent from the Hidden Rain Village; a good sign when one considers the destruction and fighting that area had to endure during the previous wars. Rasa's children were participating as one of the ten teams from his village, and there were one or two teams each from Waterfall and Grass. There was even a single team from one of the newly founded villages, Hidden Sound.

Because of decorum (and possibly a show of power and prestige, though the blonde Hokage never said if that was true), the leaders of the four noble clans of the village were required to be present, and as the family of the current leader, Naruto was required to join his parents as well…

…which brings up another conundrum, one that Naruto and Sasuke were currently contemplating on the back porch of the Namikaze residence. "Don't get me wrong," the blonde muttered, "I'm all for going on dates, but why do we need to find one now? Dad's never made me bring someone to the previous opening ceremonies…"

"You're telling me," Sasuke groaned, "Every girl in this village wants in my pants. I have no idea how I'm going to find someone who's even remotely normal."

"Who's going to be there anyways that we know?" Naruto asked, scrunching his face in concentration as he tried to think, "There isn't anyone our age from either the Akimichi or Aburame clans. Right?"

"If there is, I'd love to know who it is so I can ask them right now," Sasuke replied, "I know people are creeped out by the Aburame, but a girl from either one of those clans is more likely to be normal. I think the closest I could get is one of Chōji's cousins, but both of them are in their mid twenties."

"And I don't even think Shino has any young female relatives…" his friend groaned. "So that leaves the Hyūga…" as if a lightbulb had come on in his head, Naruto's face lit up. "I can ask Hinata! I bet she would go with me!"

"Yeah you'd love that, huh," Sasuke muttered as he smirked before dodging the head cuff sent his way, "But in all seriousness…let me go with Hinata. She's literally the only sane girl our age in this village. For all that is good in this world, let me have one night of peace."

"Get your own date!" was the answer shot back at him, and the Uchiha's eyes narrowed.

"Why don't we settle this the old fashioned way?" he proposed slyly.

Despite the petulant look on his face, the blonde agreed, and both teens abruptly drew back their fists…

"Rock! Paper! Scissors…shoot!" they shouted in unison. Sasuke's hand remained balled up in a fist, while Naruto's palm was lying flat.

Smirking in victory, the blonde got up and walked back into the house, throwing back over his shoulder, "I'll see you later, Sasuke. I'll be anxiously waiting to hear you decided to ask to go with you later!" Moments later, he heard a large groan of frustration from outside, and all he could do was break down laughing as he continued on his way to the front door.

…xXx…

Later in the week, Naruto and Sasuke were in the backyard of the Namikaze estate. Both were sweating quite profusely, and Naruto had already shed his jacket. The boys were lightly sparring, using their downtime after the long cross-country trip to get some practice in. Currently, they were sitting on the back porch, sipping on some water.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" a voice shouted from inside the house. The two boys turned around to see Kushina walking outside. "Are you two about done? Minato will be home soon, and you need to be ready to go by the time he gets here."

"Come on, Mom!" Naruto complained, "Dad won't be home for another hour! We'll be done in about thirty minutes. That's plenty of time to shower and put on some fancy clothes." The look on Sasuke's face indicated that he also wanted to continue sparring for a little longer. The blonde's face took on a sour look as he added under his breath, "Besides, we don't take three hours like you do…"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that and give you a chance to practice some more," Kushina said lightly, though her mean streak was visible deep in her eyes, and the teens both clammed up fast, "I guess it wouldn't hurt…but you'll have to fight me!"

The young Uchiha grinned in anticipation as his eyes flashed crimson, revealing the Sharingan. He and Naruto leapt back away from the back porch and darted into the forest behind the house. The Uzumaki son threw over his shoulder a taunt of, "Bring it on, Mom!" as they disappeared into the woods.

"As you wish," she replied, smiling sweetly and not making a real effort to hurry after the two teens, and the reason why was made evident seconds later, as twenty clones of her own appeared next to her. Pointing her arm to the sky, she shouted, "Alright, girls! Let's do this!" All of them leapt off of the porch in one great bound and disappeared into the woods after her charges.

Moments later, the gaggle of women screeched to a halt as a giant fireball came screaming their way. Not making a move to get out of the way, noticing that both Naruto and Sasuke were close behind. As the flames engulfed all twenty women, the fireball exploded in an unnaturally large blast, knocking both of them backwards to the ground. Knowing what was coming next, they both hopped to their feet and stood back-to-back, defending themselves as well as possible.

"Good job, boys, but that's not enough to save you!" a voice emanated from the woods around them. Before the two young men could react, someone moved at extreme speeds and took both of them out, knocking them back to the ground. As they stumbled to their feet and turned around as quickly as possible, Kushina appeared before them, looking quite different. Her eyes were a demonic red color, and the irises were mere slits, while her hands and feet were covered by pure red chakra, giving them the appearance of claws. "Remember, boys. I have many more years of experience in battle, and Naruto, I have had access to Kurama's chakra since I was born," she growled lowly, the smirk on her face being warped into a demonic visage by the chakra surrounding her.

"**Yeah, and she was even louder than you at times, brat…**" the fox lord muttered from within his cage.

"Fūton Kage Bunshin (Wind Release Shadow Clone)…" Sasuke muttered, glancing backward at the smoke cloud.

"Just wait until I learn that technique, Mom," the blonde growled, "I hate it when you use it."

His mother chuckled lightly. "That'll come with time. For now, you'll just have to settle for the normal version," she responded lightly, "Speaking of which… surprise attacks won't work on me, son!" She turned around and kicked Naruto in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. He landed softly on the trunk of a nearby tree and stuck there, snarling. He had assumed a one tailed form and had tried to sneak up on his mother from behind while a clone had masqueraded as the original. "Did you forget that foxes have strong senses?" she reprimanded him.

Sasuke pulled out two of his kunai and held them out in front of him in a battle ready position. "Naruto!" he exclaimed, and the blonde nodded. Both boys charged towards their mother, but she didn't flinch. As they were right about to strike, she grabbed each of them and flung them in opposite directions. Sasuke slammed into the tree Naruto had just left, and Naruto barely managed to recover and plant himself to the side of a large rock on the other side of the clearing. Neither boy could prevent the shining chains that shot around then and bound them to the surfaces they were in contact with, though, and Kushina grinned in triumph.

"Looks like I win again, boys. Now get inside and get cleaned up. We have a dinner to get to soon," she said, dropping her chakra covering and the chains restraining Naruto and Sasuke. Both boys fell to the ground and got up pouting. They didn't look much happier as they stalked past their mother and into the house. Kushina just chuckled and followed them in.

…xXx…

The welcoming ceremony was being held later that night, the reason behind Naruto and Sasuke being hurried into getting cleaned up by Kushina, in a high-class restaurant and banquet hall underneath the Hokage Memorial. The current leader of the Hidden Leaf village was arriving just then, officially a few minutes early so he could be there to greet all of his guests. The Namikaze party, as they arrived at the entrance to the event, were all dressed in formal dress wear of varying designs and colors. Minato wore his signature title cape and the Hokage hat over a dark blue suit, Kushina was dressed in a seafoam green, floor length dress, and Naruto wore a black suit. Both father and son still wore their forehead protectors as usual in a show of their alliances, and Kushina's was resting around her neck. The Uzumaki clan spiral was present in all three outfits by way of an armband secured around the biceps. Sasuke was also dressed in a black suit, and his clan's symbol was stitched on the front pocket of his jacket.

On his arm was a somewhat surprised and befuddled Haruno Sakura, sporting a simple red dress. Sasuke had exhausted all of his options, even resorting to asking Minato to access the files on all the women around his age that lived in the village. In the end, finding no one that was 100% sane, he opted to ask the pinkette, being the only girl he had ever had some amount of social interaction with, and her reaction was surprisingly controlled and decidedly not unbearable.

(Little did he know that as soon as he asked her and left in an embarrassed haze, she called Ino on the spot and gloated for a good 30 minutes, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him so…)

Opposite him, Naruto's date was coming with the delegate from the Hyūga clan, so he would be meeting her at the event. As the party of four plus one entered the hall, they were not surprised to discover that they were some of the first ones there, as Minato had hoped. He and Kushina left the boys to talk with Nara Shikaku, who was required to be there as jōnin commander and had been dragged there by his wife to make sure he was on time, and the two boys left to talk with Shikamaru, who was sitting at a table looking decidedly bored out of his mind. Both of them noticed there was no date in sight and silently growled in anger.

The sharply dressed blonde stomped over and stuck his nose in the lazy young man's face, asking petulantly. "Oi, Shikamaru, don't you have a date?"

The Nara heir cracked open an eye and jumped back a little at the close proximity Naruto's face was to his before shoving his head away. "Not by choice," he grumbled, "Mom set me up with some girl a year or two ahead of our class. She's kind of a flake but not too annoying." 

"So…where is she?" Sasuke asked, still not completely assured.

His answer was in the form of a thumb jerk in the direction of the women's restroom, from where a vaguely familiar girl was approaching them. With long, platinum blonde hair and rather thick spectacles, she wore a short, pale blue dress and was constantly fiddling with her hair trying to get it to stay in shape.

Some shifting at his side caused Sasuke to realize that Sakura was still lightly holding onto his arm, and he noticed a look of remembrance on her face. "Do you know her?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah…" she replied, "She's one of Ino's cousins. I think she graduated two years ahead of us. Her name is Shiho." Sasuke shuddered in horror, thinking that she might be as bad as the true Yamanaka heir. "She works with the cryptanalysis team. She's smart and really personable, but she's shy. Not at all like Ino." The young Uchiha breathed a sigh of relief, something missed by Sakura as she continued her analysis, "The only thing similar between the two of them is how much energy they have, or else you'd have no idea they were related."

The newcomer, as she approached, noted the arrival of Team 7 and hurried over. "Wow…" she breathed in amazement, taking in all three of them, "The son of the Fourth Hokage, it's an honor to meet you!" She took Naruto's hand and shook it vigorously, even as the young man observed in mild amusement.

"Really, I'm not that special," he said, waving off her praise. It took a lot for him to get embarrassed, but pulling the 'son of the Hokage' card was the one thing that really got him flustered. Not that he had a problem with it or his relationship to his father, but he honestly just preferred to be seen as a person on his own.

Shiho then turned to the other male member of Team 7, took his hand, and shook it just as energetically. "And Uchiha Sasuke, the last member of the Uchiha clan, it's a pleasure, truly!" He frowned a little at her categorization of him but couldn't get mad at her too much because of her bubbling spirit. Finally, she turned to Sakura and gave her a bright smile. "Sakura, I didn't expect to see you here!"

The pinkette gave her a warm smile in return. "I honestly can say I didn't expect to be here either," she said dryly. Shiho returned to Shikamaru's side, blushing heavily and continuing to fix her hair near constantly.

The guests began to trickle in from there. The Akimichi and Aburame clan delegations both arrived soon after, and while the clan heads went to greet the Hokage, Shino and Chōji joined the growing group of genin. The former had managed to avoid having to bring a date, and the latter had Ino draped on his arm. As they approached, her head was on a swivel, listening to the growing buzz of conversation around her. When they joined, the girls took one side of the table, and the guys took the other, and they devolved into various trains of thought. Of course, as one of the smartest people in the village, Shikamaru had positioned himself right near the buffet table, so when their parents weren't looking, all five teenage boys were sneaking snacks.

The Hyūga clan head family showed up a few minutes later, and Naruto left the group to nervously meet his date. Along with the clan head and his family, the young Uzumaki was pleased to see that Neji's family was also present.

His parents joined the son as the two families meet to say hello. "Hiashi, Hizashi, thank you so much for coming," Minato greeted the twin brothers, "I wish we had more time to meet up, but hopefully we have some time to talk here."

"We're looking forward to it, Lord Hokage," the main family head replied, shaking the leader's hand, and the blonde jōnin could only shake his head in amused disbelief at how resistant Hiashi still was to violating tradition; despite many efforts, the Hyūga head refused to refer to Minato by his name in formal situations.

Kushina and the two Hyūga mothers had already drifted away in pleasant conversation, leaving only the men and teens of the clan. "Naruto, it's nice to see you," Neji said cordially, dressed in a traditional robe of his clan, "I am looking forward to seeing how you perform in the Chūnin exams." On his arm was his teammate Tenten, looking radiant in a crimson kimono.

"As am I with you," the young blonde replied, and the two exchanged a handshake as Neji and his date went to join the genin herd.

As he approached the table, he noticed Sasuke sitting there. The two clans were no longer in a state of continual strife and competition as they once were, but there was still some aspect of competitiveness present in both boys, who both wanted to best the other. As such, as he grew close, Sasuke looked him in the eyes and said simply in an even tone, "Hyūga."

Neji responded with a neutral glance and an utterance of, "Uchiha." Sasuke gave a small snort and continued listening to the conversation. The Hyūga teen rolled his eyes and sat down as well.

Back at the entrance, almost immediately the two Hyūga men descended on Naruto, who struggled to contain his quivering under the harsh glares he was receiving.

"So…Naruto…" Hiashi started slowly, dropping all pretenses of formality as more serious matters came to the forefront, "Can I be assured that you'll behave yourself tonight with my daughter? I shouldn't have to warn you about the consequences if you conduct yourself in an unprofessional manner…"

His brother appeared to remember something and nudged him lightly. "Yes, brother, remember, we have a clan tournament coming up, and we need a durable warm-up dummy." 

"Ah, that's right, brother," Hiashi mused, eyes glinting evilly, "It would be absolutely…_unfortunate_…if we had to _recruit_ you to help us out with our clan's main event of the year. All of the members of the clan need to get in a good workout before their duels, and we'd need _something_," making sure to draw out that final word for emphasis, "that could hold up well for repeated chakra-charged blows. I wouldn't want to have to put you through such an ordeal, so I would hope that you would be on your utmost best behavior tonight on your date with my daughter…"

"Sir, we're not going on a date!" Naruto spluttered, "I asked her because I thought we would have a nice time tonight! We're just friends, that's all! Of course I'll treat her with respect!"

Unnoticed to the three males was the drooping of the young lady standing slightly behind them, but Hiashi and Hizashi both nodded with respect and assurance of the young heir's safety, even though they never really had any doubt. They just felt like having some fun away from the prying eyes of the clan elders. Naruto turned to his date for the night and did a double take. Hinata, even though she still looked somewhat down after the blonde's statements, was stunning and dressed to kill. Her floor length lavender dress was accented by a dark blue cover and white heels, her hair was up in a fancy up do, and her face had just a touch of makeup.

"Woah, Hinata…" Naruto said in amazement, struggling to find an appropriate way to describe her, "You look…stunning…"

"Thank you," she replied softly, her face flushing from the praise, "You clean up well too."

The blonde chuckled nervously and offered his arm to the young woman. She walked over and lightly looped her arm through his, and they made their way over to where the other genin were sitting. As they walked across the room, she mustered up her courage and asked softly, "Um…Naruto…what did you mean with what you told my father?" Despite the somewhat serious question she asked, she couldn't help but smile as she saw his face freeze in terror.

"What'd I say?" he asked, panicked, "Aw, crap, I knew I said something wrong. I don't want to me a practice dummy, they'll murder me!"

Hinata quickly put a finger to his mouth to silence the genin's blabbering and smiled gently. "No, you didn't say anything wrong. I was just curious about what you said about this not being a date…"

Relief flashed across Naruto's face briefly before his face fell as he realized that, once again, he had spoken without thinking. "No, no, no! Oh, crap, I didn't mean it like that!" he said quickly, "Of course I want to be here with you. I just meant it wasn't like a romantic thing, just the two of us doing stuff together, that's all!" Although she was glad he wasn't rejecting her outright, the look on her face was still not that enthused, and Naruto noticed that. "I was just talking about tonight. All I want tonight is to have fun, and besides, I haven't even asked your father for permission yet." That certainly got Hinata's attention, and the wink sent her way lit her face up with a radiant smile.

They continued on their way and joined the table of Hidden Leaf genin. They sat down in between Sasuke and Shino, with each pair of teammates sitting next to each other. Across from them were, from left to right, Chōji and Ino, Shikamaru and Shiho, and finally Tenten and Neji.

Naruto looked around at his peers and noted, "So, Team 7 is here in full, and Team 10 is represented as well."

"It's unfortunate that Kiba couldn't be here," Shino added, "Why? He's our teammate, and he's a fun person to be around." His female teammate nodded in agreement from next to her escort.

"Yeah, he's fun and all," the Nara heir muttered, "but he'd probably accidentally turn this into an international incident by spiking the wrong punchbowl."

"Come on Shikamaru," Chōji said gently, "Don't be that way. Kiba's not dumb enough to do that to the Kazekage." Upon receiving a decidedly dubious look, he chuckled and added, "I'm not saying he wouldn't do it to the Hokage. I can easily see him doing that. Or Naruto for that matter." That elicited a round of laughter from all the teenagers as Minato's son pouted in mock anger.

"Yeah, laugh it up," he muttered, "Just wait until I'm Hokage and you're all stuck doing D-rank missions for the rest of your life." Again, everyone burst out laughing, and the moment passed.

"Lee couldn't make it either," Tenten noted, "Though I'm not even sure he'd think about coming to something like this when he could be training instead."

Neji shuddered as a thought crossed his mind, "I'm almost afraid to think about what he and Gai-sensei are up to when we aren't around." His female teammate nodded with a grimace; those two were a true force to be reckoned with when together, both in terms of strength as well as strangeness.

A rise in chatter near the entrance caught the attention of the genin, and they all turned to look at the new arrivals. Judging by the formal, monotone robes, the Hidden Sand delegation had just arrived. Naruto nudged Hinata and whispered, "I think I need to be over there with Mom and Dad for this. You ready?" she nodded, and they walked over, arm in arm, and met the newcomers just as Minato and Kushina appeared from the growing crowd. The two Kage approached each other and removed their covers as they exchanged a handshake. "It's so good to see you again, Rasa," the Hokage welcomed his foreign equal.

"Likewise, my friend," he replied quietly, "It's been some time."

Minato glanced over the shoulder of the Kazekage for a moment before replying, "Yes, indeed it has. How are things going?" giving a pointed glance to the one of the three teens standing to the side.

Rasa sighed, his face weary and well beyond its years in age. "It's been…rough. Almost like the tables have been turned on me, instead it's me talking to a brick wall instead of the other way around. It's been almost three years, and I feel like nothing has changed between the two of us," he said in a low tone. He sighed once more and ran his hand through his hair. "Don't get me wrong, I'm infinitely grateful that Lord Jiraiya traveled through the Wind Country when he did, and I can never thank you for the assistance you have given in better allocating missions between our two villages, but I'm just at a loss when it comes to dealing with this."

Nodding sympathetically, Minato placed his hand on Rasa's shoulder. "Time heals all wounds," he said softly, "and this too shall pass. It just may take a little longer than you hope it might."

The Kazekage sighed but nodded, hopeful that what his fellow leader said would come true. He turned slightly and waved the three teens behind him forward. "It's been awhile, so you probably don't remember each other, but these are my children. My eldest, Temari…" the quad-ponytailed blonde female, dressed in a purple robe, bowed slightly, "…next, Kankurō…" the taller of the two boys, similar to his father in stature and looks, nodded and shook the Hokage's hand, "and finally, my youngest, Gaara." The shortest of the three also nodded slightly and briefly took Minato's hand politely, though his face bled of boredom and contempt.

"It's great to see you three again," Minato replied cordially, "Allow me to introduce my beautiful wife, Kushina…" the redhead smiled brilliantly from her spot next to her husband, "…and my son Naruto and his date, Hyūga Hinata." The younger blonde waved energetically, and Hinata shyly bowed her head in greeting. Turning back to Rasa, Minato added, "I'm sure you must be hungry after your journey, so allow me to introduce you to some of the best food in the Hidden Leaf Village. The Akimichi clan has cooked up a delicious feast…" The Kazekage nodded in eager agreement, and the two Kage, along with Kushina, wandered off towards the food, deep in conversation.

The three children of the Hidden Sand Village joined Naruto and Hinata, and Kankurō whistled in appreciation. "Damn, kid, I'd never have guessed you'd get this tall," he murmured, "Last time I saw you, you were a shrimp."

"I could say the same thing about you," the Hokage's son shot back good naturedly, "I didn't think I'd ever live to see the day that you didn't have makeup all over your face." Indeed, the kabuki-style paint that normally adorned Kankurō's face was absent, a result of the formal settings they were in.

"He wears more makeup than I do. He takes at least an hour every morning getting it _just_ right," Temari had to add in a jab at her younger brother, who shot her an evil glare, "But enough about Kankurō's beauty tips. Father has the right idea. Let's go get something to eat." She began walking slowly towards the food tables, smirking as her makeup-less brother quickly passed her.

That left Naruto and Hinata alone with the remaining sibling, Gaara. By no means great friends, the blonde had still always felt closest to the redhead for a number of reasons, not just the similarity in age. "How have you been?" he asked tentatively, "It's been a long time."

Gaara just sighed and replied, "Life's gotten significantly better since Lord Jiraiya came and helped me out. I sleep way too much and I absolutely love it." He allowed a small smile to slip through, but it quickly disappeared. "My father, though…what he made me go through in my life is inexcusable, and it's hard to believe that he's just changed and honestly cares about me like he does for Temari and Kankurō."

Naruto was somewhat disappointed; from the snippets of conversation that he overheard from his father, he knew that the relationship between Gaara and Rasa was little more than a forced coexistence, and he was well aware of the reason that the Kazekage treated his son with disdain, but it was still hard for him to hear that they hadn't reconciled yet. He wasn't aware of all the details, but from what he knew, Rasa truly seemed to want to make peace with his son, but Gaara was having none of it. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that it wasn't his problem, nor was it his place to interfere, and he was going to ensure that the youngest heir of the Hidden Sand Village had a good experience in his village.

"Like my dad said, give it time," Naruto replied, trying to wave it off and move on to happier topics, "What we can't give any more time is the food over there. We'd better hurry before it's all gone!" Making sure Hinata was still with him, the two hurried back to the genin crowd. Gaara shook his head in amazement and went to join the rest of the delegate from the Hidden Sand Village, joining his siblings who shared some of the plates of food they had pilfered from the table.

…xXx…

A week later, Team 7 stood in the lobby of the ninja academy. Their teacher stood before them, almost appearing to block any further progress they were attempting to make. All three genin held signed forms in their hands and had determined looks on their faces. Kakashi had approached them during one of their regular team training sessions and offered them the applications for the Chūnin Exams, with the stipulation that they give it some serious thought before signing the form.

"Well, are you prepared for the next step, you three?" the silver-haired ninja asked softly, examining each one of his students carefully, "This won't be easy. Talented genin from around the world will be here, and a lot of them will have had a lot more experience than you. Many of the applicants will have already had a couple of attempts at the Chūnin Exam under their belts, so rank can go completely out the window in these competitions. Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this?"

"Of course we're ready, Kakashi," Sasuke said confidently, "You know it, we know it, and even the Hokage knows it. I'm sure we can handle whatever is thrown our way." He held up the examination form and handed it to his teacher, who took with little to do.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei. We've trained a lot for this opportunity," Sakura added, equally as confident, "I think we can handle it." She also handed Kakashi her form, and he looked mildly surprised before giving her an encouraging smile.

"Let us at 'em, Kakashi-sensei! We can take anything anyone throws at us!" Naruto exclaimed, bouncing over and handing his form to his teacher, completing the set.

"I can see your determination, and I want you to know how proud of you three I am," he replied seriously, noting the looks of joy on the faces of Naruto and Sakura and the pride hidden behind Sasuke's smirking expression. The jōnin jerked his finger towards the staircase off to the right and continued, "When you're ready, head on up to the third floor, room 301. Good luck. I know you'll do great," and with that, he disappeared in a poof of smoke. All three genin rolled their eyes and made their way up the staircase to the third floor.

Upstairs, as they walked down the hallway, they ran into a crowd of people near the classroom they were supposed go to. Naruto looked rather confused as he asked, "What's all the commotion about?"

Sasuke's face was set in determination as he replied, "I don't know but I'm about to find out," before disappearing into the crowd. His teammates exchanged a look of slight confusion before quickly moving in after him.

It didn't take long for them to reach the center, and Naruto and Sakura had caught up with their teammate just in time to see someone be slapped back from the door. The young man on the ground wiping his lip was dressed from head to toe in a green jumpsuit, with orange arm and leg warmers. His black hair was in a dorky bowl cut, and huge black eyebrows framed his large eyes. As indicated by their presence nearby as they came to assist him, this was clearly the third member of Hyūga Neji and Tenten's team, Rock Lee. While the latter moved to help out her downed friend, Neji nodded his head towards Team 7 before turning his attention back to the two standing in front of room 301.

Both were wearing headbands indicating that they were ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village, and they appeared to be slightly older than most of the genin gathered around the room's entrance. One had his fist extended from where he had knocked back Rock Lee to the ground, and the other had two oversized kunai strapped across his back. Both wore identical cocky smirks as they observed the crowd around them.

"If you can't handle a wimpy punch like that, then there's no way you can handle the Chūnin Exams," the one who had punched the kid said, retracting his fist to his side.

"We aren't letting you anywhere near this classroom unless you can prove to us that you aren't completely worthless," the kunai-armed one added snidely.

A motion to the side caught Sasuke's eye, and he turned to see Neji subtly motioning towards his eyes and then at the sign outside the room. Catching his drift, both kekkei genkai wielders activated the special abilities of their eyes. Second later, the young Uchiha snorted and began walking away from the scene, surprising his teammates and causing the kunai-wielding ninja to spit out, "And where do you think you're going runt?"

"To room 301. We're on the second floor, dummy," he shot back, not looking back as he continued walking.

While they were surprised that their deception had been so easily pierced, the two hooligans couldn't help but chuckle, and the crowd began to twitter excitedly as they noticed the sign over the room change from 301 to 201. The one armed with the kunai whispered, "Alright, smartass. Let's see if you see through this…" With that, he dashed towards his prey, preparing a sneak attack.

The gasp from the crowd clued in Team 7 that something was happening, and Sasuke turned around in time to see the older genin aiming a kick right at his head. The young Uchiha prepared to counterattack by blocking with one arm and pulling back his fist with another, but neither one was able to get their attack off. Surprisingly, the older genin's leg and Sasuke's fist were caught by the green-clad genin who had been knocked to his rear just a short while ago.

"Please, it is not necessary to fight," he said in a surprisingly polite tone, "Getting expelled from the exam is not good for the image of the Hidden Leaf Village." Sasuke backed off with nary a fight, while the elder genin made a noise of displeasure and stalked off in the other direction, with his friend following. Having disengaged from both, Rock Lee said no more and rejoined his teammates, engaging them in conversation.

The Sharingan wielder turned and continued down the hall with his team, all the while thinking, 'That kid is hiding something…" a thought also shared by Naruto and Sakura. Little did any of them know they were followed down the hallway…

As they arrived in an open area where the staircase up to the third floor was located, a voice behind them made them stop. "Uchiha Sasuke, please wait a moment!" Team 7 turned and saw the green-clad kid standing behind them.

"Yeah, what is it?" Sasuke asked curiously, sizing up the kid who obviously knew more than he led anyone to believe.

The kid put up a palm in a battle ready pose, grinned, and said, "My name is Rock Lee. I wish to have a battle with you!"

The young Uchiha was surprised by the odd proposal for a moment, but he recovered and smirked at Rock Lee. "Yeah, sure why not. Let's go down there, where there's more space." He jerked his thumb to the open area below the staircases and leapt down soon after. Lee was quick to follow.

"Hey, what about me?" Naruto exclaimed angrily, leaping down quickly and getting in between the two.

Sakura opted to take the staircase in a more composed manner but still shouted at her teammates, "We don't have time for this guys! We need to get to the room upstairs."

Her voice went largely ignored, and Naruto shoved his way between the two combatants and snarled, "I'll fight this guy, Sasuke. You've already had your fun."

"Uzumaki Naruto," Lee said, recognizing the Hokage's son instantly, "While I would normally relish the challenge of engaging you in hand-to-hand combat, I do not wish to fight you at this time."

"Quiet!" Naruto snarled, "Let's do this!" and with that, he charged at the spandex clad ninja. He brought up his hands in a familiar hand sign and exclaimed, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" Soon, five Narutos were charging at their spandex opponent.

However, before they could touch him, Lee disappeared in a blur. The clones and original didn't know where he went and halted in confusion just in front of where he had just been. A shout of "Konoha Senpū (Leaf Whirlwind)!" startled all of them, as Lee appeared in their midst, sharply kicking the clones, which disappeared with pained expressions on the faces, and finally the original, who was sent flying into the wall and promptly knocked out of commission. Lee landed gracefully on the ground and resumed his battle ready position. "Now, let us begin, Sasuke," he said plainly. Sasuke merely nodded, though sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead.

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned! I hope you are continuing to enjoy the changes I'm employing with this retelling.

**Review Responses:**

**justsomerealguy: **Respectfully, you're missing out. I put a lot of effort into creating an original backstory for a character using known information and adding in my own flavor, and this tale is extremely important for later character and plot development. Just give it a chance. You might enjoy it.


	8. (Chūnin Exams 2) Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Chūnin Exams) Chapter 7 – It's Time! The First Stage Begins!

'Now, let's find out how he managed to block my kick so easily,' Sasuke thought before he charged at Lee once more, who didn't appear to be too perturbed. The young Uchiha reared back and prepared a right hook, but right as he was about to punch Lee in the face, the spandex-wearing ninja disappeared in a blur. 'What the…?' was all Sasuke could think before he was hit hard from behind. He hit the ground hard and skidded a couple of feet before stopping. Whipping his head around, he saw that Lee was now standing to the rear of his position, his fist held out behind him momentarily before it snapped back into his seemingly trademark battle ready position.

"There's no way he can move that fast," Sasuke muttered, both impressed and slightly scared at the same time, "No matter, I'll get to the bottom of this. Ninjutsu, genjutsu…I'll figure it out." And with that, his eyes flashed a crimson color as the Sharingan activated.

The bowlcut kid's eyes widened in amazement. "Ah…the fabled Sharingan," Lee breathed excitedly, "I was hoping I would have a chance to view them in battle."

"Yeah, well, you'll get to see them up close and personal!" the Uchiha prodigy replied right before he resumed his attack. 'His abilities can't hide from my eyes!' he thought confidently. He approached Lee quickly and was about to prepare yet another assault, but he was once again foiled. This time he received a hard kick to his chin, sending him flying upwards. He caught one quick glimpse of Lee below him before the spandex clad genin disappeared once more.

"Surprised?" a voice behind Sasuke said softly. Sasuke froze at his recognition of the voice, as Lee appeared within his shadow. "Are you curious why your Sharingan cannot pierce the secrets of my techniqued?"

"Wait a moment…this is…Konoha Kage Buyō (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf)!?" the young Uchiha breathed in shock, "But that's not either ninjutsu or genjutsu! It's…" His eyes widened as it suddenly became clear what was going on.

"That's right," Lee replied from within the shadow, "My moves are all pure taijutsu. There's nothing for your Sharingan to analyze because I expend no chakra with any of my moves. However…" he paused for a moment to mess around with something that Sasuke was unable to see, "…now is not the time for idle talk. I'd imagine both of us are quite busy."

Sakura and Naruto, who had gotten his act together by that point, were watching from below, and they both were able to see what Lee was doing within Sasuke's shadow. They watched as the taijutsu user began to undo the bandages that surrounded his hands and arms, eventually letting them hang below him freely. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted loudly, "Watch out!"

"It's too late, Naruto!" the spandex wearer exclaimed, but right before he could initiate his attack, a pink pinwheel came out of nowhere and pinned one of the bandages to the wall. This caused Lee to lose his concentration and fall out of Sasuke's shadow. Sasuke had nothing to support him to begin with, but as he fell towards the floor, he pushed chakra into his feet and managed to pull off a semi-graceful landing.

The next part caused all three genin of Team 7 to stare openmouthed in amazement. A large tortoise wearing a Hidden Leaf forehead protector had appeared within the room and began chastising Lee for almost using a forbidden technique. This continued for a few minutes, with the tortoise continuing to berate the young man and Lee acting almost scared of the ninja animal. Team 7 was surprised enough at this rather odd exchange, but they hadn't seen anything yet.

The tortoise finally said, "I think it's time for Gai-sensei to get involved." Lee really looked freaked out when the animal said that, and all three genin of Team 7 went from looking confused to disgusted in a heartbeat.

"Not him," Naruto groaned, "Anyone but him."

"I'd rather see Lee any day than to have to deal with him," Sasuke muttered in horror.

"Maybe if we leave now, he won't see us," Sakura added in haste.

Both boys liked her idea, but they weren't granted the time to initiate it, as a man appeared on top of the turtle in a puff of smoke. He looked like nothing more than an older version of Lee. His hair and eyebrows were exactly the same, as well as the green spandex suit and appendage warmers. His eyes were smaller and much more narrow than Lee's, and he was wearing a flak jacket, indicative of someone of a higher rank, but other than that, he seemed to be the basis for Lee's current fashion style.

"The handsome green beast of the Hidden Leaf Village is here at last!" he crowed, striking a rather odd pose while on top of the turtle. Team 7 could do nothing except look upon him with utter disgust.

'What a weirdo,' they all thought simultaneously, giving the odd man a look of disgusted disinterest. Lee noticed how they were looking at his beloved sensei and immediately took action.

"Don't look at Gai-sensei like that!" he screeched in an almost unearthly tone, "He is the most powerful and respected man in the entire village. Don't forget it!"

The tall man lapsed out of his pose and hopped off of his tortoise familiar, shouting authoritatively, "Lee! Come here for a moment!"

The younger spandex lover stopped with his berating of Team 7 over his truthfully odd teacher and bounced over to said teacher, saying, "Yes, Gai-sensei!"

Lee hadn't even come to a standstill in front of his teacher before the jōnin reared back and smashed his fist into Lee's face with an almighty punch, shouting, "YOU IDIOT!" The genin was sent flying, bouncing across the floor a couple of times before meeting with the wall in an unfortunate collision.

The faces of the members of Team 7 now all showed varying mixes of horror and disgust, with the former predominating. A new thought now streamed through their minds, in one form or another: 'What a psycho…'

Lee's cheek was puffy, and blood was trickling out of the corner of his mouth as he struggled to get up, but his teacher appeared in front of him in a flash, offering a hand. "Lee…" Gai said tearfully as his student took his hand.

"Gai-sensei…" Lee replied, equally tearfully.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

With that, the two embraced, as they oddly appeared a cliff, with the sun setting in the background and a large wave crashing against the rocks. Team 7 was dumbstruck at the absurdity of the entire thing.

"Oh hell, I hope this is a genjutsu and not some alternate fantasy," Sakura whispered as she made the tiger sign and pumped chakra through her body to release herself from the genjutsu. Sasuke did the same thing, and Naruto let the Kyūbi break him out.

"**This is truly a fearsome illusion those two clowns have come up with,**" it growled angrily, "**I'm going to have nightmares for a month because of them. Boy, I thought I told you to stay away from them.**"

'Trust me, I try, but it's hard when Gai-sensei has this delusion that Kakashi-sensei is his greatest and only rival," Naruto spluttered in reply.

The giant orange fox hissed in anger but still sent a wave of chakra through the blonde's body, finally releasing his captor from the horrific illusion.

The two green clad ninja finally broke apart, and as Lee wiped his eyes of the tears that had fallen, Gai pointed over to the wall where his student's bandages were still pinned to the wall by the pinwheel and said, "Lee, go fetch my pinwheel. I want to go talk to those kids over there."

His student saluted and replied, "Yes, sir!" before running over to fetch the mentioned items. Then, before the very eyes of Team 7, Gai disappeared once again.

"Naruto, Sasuke, it is most wonderful to see you again. I see the spirit of youth has not abandoned either of you!" The booming voice came from behind them, and Naruto and Sasuke actually jumped away in shock before turning around to see Gai standing behind them. Sakura actually shrieked in horror and stumbled over in her surprise.

The jōnin then looked down at the fallen female and offered his hand to her, nearly shouting as he continued, "And you must be the most youthful female member of Team 7, Haruno Sakura! It is truly an honor to meet you at long last!" The pink haired ninja couldn't really do much except take his hand just long enough to get to her feet before scurrying off to stand with her teammates. Gai grinned at them, his teeth almost blinding them, before he said, "Well, it was extremely exciting to meet the youthful students of my eternal rival Kakashi, but I need to be going. Lee!" he exclaimed, and his student snapped to attention. "I have to leave now, but I trust that the flames of youth will guide you safely throughout the Chūnin Exams! I will see you soon!"

Lee saluted and took off up the stairs towards the third floor, and Gai poofed away to who knows where. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all remained standing there, dumbstruck by the exchange that had just taken place. "Did anyone else think that was rather…odd?" Naruto ground out. His companions could only nod in agreement.

…xXx…

Ten minutes later, after temporarily ridding the horrific images of the last few minutes from their minds, Team 7 stood in front of Room 301, this time the real one. "This had better be the real room," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura quickly checked with a quick genjutsu release to confirm they weren't under the effects of any outside influence, and Naruto added, "According to my nose, there's quite a large crowd in that room, so I think we've got the right place this time." His Uchiha teammate nodded and threw open the double doors, and despite what they had heard and the Kyūbi container's guess, all three members of Team 7 were blown away by the sight before them. Inside the room, one of the larger lecture halls within the academy, were a couple hundred genin from various villages. Symbols from villages far and wide, foreign armor, and even a few scattered unknown weapons greeted the three as they stood still at the entrance, somewhat in shock.

It also didn't help that the entire room had shifted their gaze to glare at the new arrivals.

"Hey! Sakura! Over here!" a female voice piped up to their right, and the girl whose name was called out looked over and saw the other six members of their graduating class sitting and milling around one of the long tables in the room, so they made their way over. Like the rest of the Hidden Leaf genin and unlike the last few times they had seen her, Ino wore a purple tank top and skirt, bandages around her upper legs, fishnets on her joints, and her forehead protector as a belt around her waist. Her blonde hair was secured in a high ponytail.

"Oi, Ino, keep it down," Kiba, who was sitting behind her, said, poking her in the arm, "Do you want everyone in here to hate the Hidden Leaf Village?" The young dog tamer was wearing a black, fur lined hooded sweatshirt, with the hood currently down, matching pants with weapons holsters, and regulation sandals. His dog companion Akamaru, was resting on the table, almost out of his puppy years at nearly two feet long.

His concern was waved away almost instantly. "You're lucky your dog is so cute or I'd be mad at you," she muttered, "Besides, they probably hate us anyways…right Sasuke?" She cozied up to the Uchiha male and gave him a suggestive look.

He was used to it by now, but that doesn't mean it didn't still annoy him. "Come on, Ino, cut it out," he said in annoyance.

"Yeah, Ino-pig, back off," Sakura growled immediately after, darting over and shoving herself in between the two. The blonde beauty merely smirked, causing the pinkette to glare at her best friend.

"Honestly," Shikamaru grumbled from his spot on the other side of the table, opening his eyes briefly to take in the new arrivals, "Are you two ever going to grow up? You're 17 for heaven's sake. Geez." His answer was twin glares from the two girls, and he sighed and closed his eyes again. He wore a long sleeve black shirt underneath a gray vest adorned with his clan's symbol, as well as standard pants and weapons holsters.

Next to him, Chōji was munching on a bag of chips. His attire consisted of light armor under his red jacket and on his forearms, as well as light wrist guards, black slacks, and boots instead of sandals. His spiky brown hair stuck up around his head and shoulders. A light scarf was wrapped around his neck, and his chest armor held the character for "food," a characteristic of his clan. "Don't listen to him, you guys," he said happily between bites, "He's just nervous, like the rest of us. Blowing off some steam never hurt anyone."

"It might if everyone in this room starts gunning for us, we might have a problem," the lazy genius muttered back.

"Shikamaru has a point," Shino murmured from next to his male teammate, "It might not be the best idea to antagonize the visitors of the village. Why? If we have to be fighting them in the coming days, it would be wise not to make them angry and give them a reason to target us." The Nara pointed his hand at the bug master, emphasizing his point. Shino was dressed in a long beige jacket and shorts, and the only part of his face that could be seen were the sunglasses covering his eyes.

Finally, the last remaining member of the rookie class spoke up, as Hinata added, "Regardless, we should try to relax, don't you think?" She wilted slightly as everyone turned her way at once, but continued speaking, "We won't have much more time to just sit around and talk as friends." She brightened a little as the faces of her teammates and classmates all calmed, and Naruto's smile didn't hurt, either.

Everyone had no issue with that, and with the niceties complete, the genin started chatting amongst themselves. Sakura and Ino began to whisper frantically about various things, while Hinata listened and nodded at all the right times. The boys were not surprised to see a few magazines appear before disappearing under the table. The boys did likewise, though they spoke at normal volumes, and discussed a number of topics. Neji and Lee soon joined them, while Tenten joined the female end of the table.

"Hey, you guys. Are you the rookies this year?" another new voice said, as a taller genin walked up to them, looking somewhat sheepish. He had on a simple outfit compared to most of the other genin. His headband was in a normal spot on his forehead, right above glasses. His hair was gray and tied back into a ponytail. He continued, "Only reason I say that is because every year it's a common occurrence for the rookie genin to ignore the atmosphere of the room. You all seem to understand the importance of keeping a low or neutral profile." His gaze swept the entire room, where many rough characters still sat, shifting their eyes to and fro in cautious observation, "I know from past experience that most of the ninja that participate in these exams are on edge before the exam begins."

"Who're you?" Sasuke asked abruptly, "You seem to know a lot about these exams, don't you?"

The newcomer smiled genially. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. My name is Yakushi Kabuto, a fellow Hidden Leaf genin like yourselves."

"Alright, then, Kabuto, could you tell us what you know about the exams? It sounds like you have plenty of experience with these exams, huh?" the Uchiha asked bluntly.

The older genin nodded softly. "This is actually my seventh time taking them." He chuckled when he saw the varying looks of horror on the young ninjas' faces. "Don't look that way. Even though I'm a genin, my specialty is more brains than brawn, so while I can get through the first few rounds with the help of my teammates, I usually end up losing when the individual matches come around." His sheepish expression calmed his fellow village mates, especially the ones who had strength on their side. In particular, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, and Kiba all looked charged up and ready to go, and Neji's cool demeanor even showed some excitement.

Their elder friend pulled out a rather large stack of cards from within one of his pouches. The twelve younger genin watched him curiously as he flipped through them until he found one and pulled it out. However, to their surprise, when he turned it around, the card was blank. "I guess you're all wondering what is supposed to be on this card, right?" he asked rhetorically, "These cards only react to my chakra and therefore only show information when I handle them."

"That's pretty neat," Ino whispered to Sakura, and the pink-haired kunoichi nodded in response.

Kabuto continued, "I hate going into situations without knowing everything I can about them, so I go to great lengths to gather as much information as I possibly can. I cannot give you any particulars on the exam itself since the proctors and various tests change each year. However," and he held up the card, "I can give you a little inside glimpse of what to expect from each of the villages involved."

"Let's see it," Sasuke immediately replied. Kabuto tilted his head towards the young Uchiha slightly and sent a wave of chakra into the card. It soon was covered with a map of the major ninja countries. A 3-D bar graph soon emerged from the card, with bars over a lot of the countries. Kabuto set the card on the ground so all of the genin could see it.

**GENIN REPRESENTATION IN CHŪNIN EXAMS**

**Hidden Leaf Village**

**Namikaze Minato, Hokage**

Hidden Leaf: 29 teams, 87 participants

Hidden Sand: 10 teams, 30 participants

Hidden Rain: 7 teams, 21 participants

Hidden Grass: 2 teams, 6 participants

Hidden Waterfall: 2 teams, 6 participants

Hidden Sound: 1 team, 3 participants

He then set a few more cards out, giving some more information for each individual village.

**CHŪNIN EXAM TEAM BREAKDOWN**

**Hidden Leaf Village**

**Namikaze Minato, Hokage**

Team 2: Akadō Yoroi, Tsurugi Misumi, Yakushi Kabuto

…

Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto

Team 8: Aburame Shino, Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba

Team 9: Hyūga Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten

Team 10: Akimichi Chōji, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino

…

**Hidden Sand Village**

**Rasa, Kazekage**

…

Team 2: Gaara, Kankurō, Temari

…

**Hidden Rain Village**

**Yahiko, Leader**

…

Team 11: Baiu, Midare, Shigure

Team 14: Kagari, Mubi, Oboro

…

**Hidden Grass Village**

**Bokusō, Leader**

Team 2: Ashiboso, Chigaya, Karin

Team 6: Hatomugi, Shiore, Yamagusa

**Hidden Waterfall Village**

**Shibuki, Leader**

Team 4: Hisen, Kanchū Fūka, Tarumi

…

**Hidden Sound Village**

**Daijagan, Leader**

Team 1: Dosu Kinuta, Kin Tsuchi, Zaku Abumi

The large group from the Hidden Leaf gathered around, examining the cards individually. Nothing in particular stood out to any of the genin or held any significance to them.

Pointing to the card representing the home village, Kabuto began to explain his precious research. "As you can see, being the hosting village, Leaf has the most teams competing this year." He then lifted up the well-represented foreign powers. "Sand and Rain have quite a few teams as well. The former is due to improved relations between the two countries. The latter isn't unusual because Hidden Rain always sends as many teams to each round of exams as they possibly can." Finally, the grey haired young man took the cards showing the remaining villages and gazed at them. "These other teams are likely the pride and joy of their respective villages. Grass and Waterfall aren't as large as the five main powers, so they only send their best to compete. Sound is a different story because it was only established recently. Their ninja force probably isn't as developed as other countries, so the main reason for sending a team is to send a message that they aren't weak."

"What about Cloud, Rock, and Mist?" Ino asked, a question on the minds of many of the genin, "Surely they have some eligible candidates?"

Kabuto nodded thoughtfully. "Mist is the easiest to explain, so I will start there," he began, "Lately, there has been talk of possible rebellion. Confirmed reports have not come in, but there has been no movement in or out of the village for a year or two now. The reasons behind Rock and Cloud are more personal, the former being just a simple grudge against the Fourth Hokage and the latter being bitterness over the death of their Head Ninja almost 15 years ago." No one missed the scowls that flashed across the faces of Naruto and both Hyūga.

As the genin continued to look at Kabuto's cards, Sasuke piped up with an interesting request. "Do you have information about the individual participants," he asked, pointedly ignoring Shikamaru's sighs of annoyance.

If he was surprised by the question, Kabuto didn't show it. "I do, but the only potential issue is that I only have complete facts on ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village," he said, looking rather apologetic, "For all of the foreign ninja, I could only get information based on what was available in public records. But, if you want, I can show each of you the information available on you. Most of it is based on mission reports and assessments by each of your jōnin senseis."

"Good enough," the young Uchiha replied, "What do you have on Rock Lee?" Kabuto paused for a moment and then whipped out a card. Pumping some chakra into it, the data on the odd young man was revealed. The card's creator took a look at the card for a few moments before silently handing it over to Sasuke, who took it and examined it carefully for a few moments. Over his shoulder, the subject of the card also took some interest in his own assessment and peeked over the Uchiha's shoulder.

**ROCK LEE**

**Personal:**

Hidden Leaf Village

Rank: Genin

Team 9, under Jōnin Might Guy

Age: 18

Clan/Family: NA

**Proficiency (ranked in increasing level, from 0 to 5):**

Ninjutsu: 0.5

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 1.5

Strength: 3.5

Speed: 4

Stamina: 3.5

Hand Seals: 1

**Abilities:**

Hachimon (Eight Gates)

Fighting style proficiency in Gōken (Strong Fist)

Sasuke noticed him there before too long and handed it back to the young silver haired man with a satisfied nod and a slight flush of embarrassment because he had forgotten Lee was standing right there.

After that, Kabuto handed Lee's card to the correct genin and pulled out a stack of eleven other cards. After he had pulled the information up on each one.

As the Leaf genin continued to chat, three genin within the crowd of exam-goers had overheard the comments that Kabuto had made about their village. "You hear that?" one said, "He thinks Hidden Sound is too small and weak to matter." This Sound genin was hunched over, and his face was covered in bandages save one eye, giving him a countenance similar to a troll. A fur cloth covered his back, and a large device was mounted on one of his arms.

His teammate scoffed at the "nerve" of the elder genin. He had spiky black hair, and the front of his outfit carried the kanji for "death" vertically three times on the front. As he flexed his hands, two air holes could be seen in each palm. "No one underestimates us. We'll show everyone who really owns this exam!" he hissed, "Let's go show that punk who's boss." With that, the two and their female teammate disappeared in a flash.

Naruto was the first to pick up an irregularity amongst the crowd, three rapidly moving figures amongst the massive herd of genin. His head whipped towards the crowd of genin as he tried to identify the assailants heading towards them at a rapid velocity.

Kiba and Akamaru also caught it and walked to the blonde's side. "I guess you smelled that as well, huh," he muttered, "Who is it?"

"No idea," Naruto replied softly, "but whoever it is has been in contact with a scent that's familiar…I just can't place who it is…" Neither of them caught Kabuto also detecting the abnormality. The silver haired genin turned his head slightly towards the crowd to watch them approach but continued to explain the cards to the Leaf genin.

Out of nowhere, the Sound ninja with the strange device on his arm appeared crouched down in front of Kabuto. Before the tall young man could react, the foreign ninja had already swung upwards with the accessory on his arm, aiming for the face of his prey. Surprisingly, Kabuto neatly dodged the hit by leaning backwards. He straightened himself out with a smirk, but that quickly changed to a look of surprise as the lenses of his glasses cracked. He looked like he was going to say something as his hands went to his face, but then he keeled over and started to violently throw up on the ground.

"Kabuto!" Sakura and Ino shouted in worry, and they ran over to attend to him as the others looked towards the Sound team, who was now standing before them in full, looking rather cocky and ready to fight if need be.

"I could have sworn Kabuto dodged that attack…" Naruto muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else, but the others heard it as well.

"Naruto…" Shino intoned, coming to stand at his side, "…that device on his arm may have something to do with it. When he first appeared, I saw him tap it with his free hand before attacking," indicating that he also noticed something was up.

"I don't know if Shino's onto something or not, but something from over there almost blew out mine and Akamaru's ears," Kiba whined softly, holding his hands protectively over his ears, with Akamaru doing likewise with his paws.

None of them were able to comment further, however, as the one with the arm device stepped forward and growled, who was still on the ground, "That's for calling us a weak village."

The black haired male added ferociously, "Yeah, we're going to show all of you bastards that Hidden Sound is the most powerful of all of the ninja villages!"

An explosion in the corner of the room near the entrance drew everyone's attention, as well as a few coughs and wheezes from the smoke that was generated. From within the smoke emerged around 30 men and women dressed in drab gray uniforms. At the lead was a man wearing a black trench coat over the traditional ninja garb. He was a tall, hulking man. He wore his forehead protector as a bandana over his head, and from what could be seen of his face, it was covered in scars.

All of the locals were well aware of who he was, but not many of the foreigners were familiar with the head of the Hidden Leaf Torture and Interrogation Force, Morino Ibiki. As such, many of the more squeamish visitors recoiled in horror at his patchwork face, and frantic whispering broke out throughout the room.

"Quiet down!" he roared, and everyone did exactly as he said and shut up. Ibiki took a step towards the Sound genin and snarled, "Go back to your seats and stop causing trouble, or I'll disqualify the lot of you. Do you understand?" While none of the three appeared to be all that scared, they nodded and shuffled back to the desk they had been sitting at.

"Our apologies," the apparent leader, the mummified one, murmured, "It's our first time at an event like this."

The torture specialist scowled and raised his voice to address the entire room. "While I have your attention, let me make one thing very clear. You will follow my rules, you will behave, and if we deem you to be unfit to continue in this exam for any reason, you are done. Am I clear?" His intimidating countenance didn't create any objections, and the silence that ensured confirmed his suspicions. He nodded slightly and continued, "Good. We will now begin the first stage of the Chūnin Exams."

Two of the chūnin moved up to his side, one holding a clipboard and another with a box, and many of the Hidden Leaf contingency scowled as they recognized the disguised genin that had tried to fool them with genjutsu earlier in the day. "Izumo and Kotetsu here will be handing out seat assignments to each of you so we can get started with the written exam."

Shocked and astounded were only two of the adjectives that could be used to describe the reaction that swept through the room, though conversations were much more muted than earlier. As teams whispered strategies and concerns, Ibiki continued, "When your name is called, come to the front of the room, draw a lot, and sit at the seat assigned to the number you draw. And do it quietly!" he added at the end, once again stifling the atmosphere of the room.

Mostly due to fear of retribution, the genin quickly received their seat assignments and found the correct location. No two teammates found themselves next to each other, though Naruto somehow was lucky enough to find that he was sitting next to Hinata. Trying to make light of the exam, which was not something he had been historically good at, he cracked with a wry smile, "Well, at least I can say I participated in one exam."

"Don't say that," the Hyūga beauty replied softly, "You'll be fine. How hard can a test be anyways?" 

"**Obviously she doesn't know you very well…,**" Kurama growled, and his chamber was soon filled with various insults and curses. Of course, that only served to induce peals of laughter in the ancient, multi-tailed fox, but it made Naruto feel better.

Once all of the genin had located a seat, Ibiki raised his voice once more. "You'll see that your exams are lying on the table in front of you. Don't you dare look at them until I give you permission to do so." A few of the more adventurous test takers removed their hands from the table. "There are a few vital rules to this test, and I won't be answering or accepting any questions, so you had better listen closely the first time because I won't repeat myself."

He took a piece of chalk and began writing on the blackboard at the front of the room. "There are ten questions on this examination, and everyone in this room will start with ten points. Those are yours to lose. For each question you answer wrong, you lose a point." He wrote that on the board, along with a simple illustration and examples to demonstrate the point system of the test.

"Next up," he continued, "you will be judged as a whole alongside your teammates. If it helps you to think about it this way, you are directly responsible for the fate of one third of your team's collective score of 30." Again, he added that to the rules on the blackboard.

"Of course, as ninja, the first instinct might be to cheat," he added, almost as an aside, but his voice quickly rose in volume, "but you would be wrong in this case! As you can see here, I have brought along some of my best subordinates to help me with overseeing this examination, and their job is to make sure you keep your noses clean." As the genin looked around, some of the Hidden Leaf participants took note of ninja that they had seen around town, such as Ino's father Inoichi. "If any of us catch you cheating, you lose two points from your score for each infraction that we observe." He started scribbling on a different part of the board, as his rules were taking up a lot of space.

"Finally," and his voice deepened as his face contorted into a sadistic sneer, "this is the most important and crucial rule of them all. We emphasize teamwork as an essential characteristic of chūnin in the Hidden Leaf Village, so we want to ensure the candidates are in line with that philosophy. Therefore, if any one person has their score reduced to zero for any reason, they will fail…and so will their two teammates!" That sent another wave of horror through the room, and this time everyone was too shocked to say or whisper anything.

Smirking, and having finished his rules, Ibiki turned to face the crowd and concluded his speech, "You all have one hour. _Good luck_." The way he said that last phrase jerked everyone out of their stupor, and the sound of flipping papers flowed through the room as the exam began.

…xXx…

Sakura started to read the first question. While it was not impossible for someone of her intellectual level, she was still blown away at how difficult the questions were. 'If a concealed ninja hiding 22.5 meters from and 48 degrees north of an enemy throws a shuriken at 20 meters per second, accounting for normal wind velocity and gravity, how long would it take to hit the enemy, where would it hit, and how much reaction time would the enemy have to dodge the blow...these are much more difficult than academy level questions. I think I can answer enough to get by, but I have no idea what they trying to pull here?' She began to scribble calculations and notes as her train of thought continued, 'It's almost like they want us to cheat…'

Her eyes widened imperceptibly. 'That's it! They're trying to weed out the weaker teams by forcing each individual to show off how well they can gather information. If a ninja cannot even hide a simple deception, they are a liability to the team, and they won't be able to work on high-level missions as a member of a chūnin squad,' she thought, reciting the basic tenets of qualified ninja. Her face fell as she considered the possible consequences. 'I'm just worried that Sasuke and Naruto won't be able to answer any of these questions. I'm going to have enough trouble figuring out all of these in just an hour, so I can only hope they get the true purpose of the exam.

…xXx…

Sasuke had quickly come to the same conclusion as his female teammate and was now running through all of his options. 'Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of stealth or long distance information gathering, but I do have the Sharingan.' His eyes flashed around the perimeter of the room, surprised to see the proctors rather active in writing down the names of potential cheaters. 'I'm slightly worried about how much they're writing down. I was considering using a genjutsu to mask the activation, but this is the Torture and Interrogation Force; there's no way they don't have a sensor.' He paused and weighed his options. Not seeing any other choice, mostly because the questions were way beyond his comprehension, 'I'll risk using my Sharingan, but I won't use a genjutsu.' His eyes flashed red, and through his bangs he began scanning the entire room. Before too long, he locked onto someone writing furiously, and he quickly copied that person's movements.

…xXx…

Tenten was resorting to a much more discreet method, as she and Lee were using a group of mirrors on the ceiling and their headbands to communicate. It had been easy enough to flick some thin line up to the glass thanks to a small, nearly invisible weight on the end of the wire, and a small burst of chakra up the line gave her full control. She had already located a fully answered exam paper using that method, and now she was trying to get the right angle to allow her teammate to view her paper.

A flash of metal confirmed the correct alignment, and she leaned back and relaxed.

…xXx…

Shikamaru, being at a level of intelligence far surpassing that of even Sakura, was quickly able to deduce the answers to all of the difficult questions, but he was having a much harder time trying to find Chōji through the use of his Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique).

'Of course the stupid proctors would have placed him behind me somewhere,' he grumbled internally, 'I'm glad I set up a signal with him so I would know when our chakras connected.'

A few minutes later, he finally felt the telltale table taps of his best friend, and he began writing down the answers to the questions.

…xXx…

Both Hyūga were able to quickly ascertain the hidden purpose of the exam, and discreetly they were able to activate their Byakugan in bursts and copy down the answers using people from around the room.

…xXx…

Both Kiba and Shino had easy solutions to the cheating problem thanks to their animal partners. Akamaru was perched on his master's head and quietly fed the answers down via barely audible yips, while bugs circulated through the room and brought the answers back to their master through the chakra link they shared.

…xXx…

Ino, unlike everyone else, was in absolutely no hurry and did not panic from the outset because she had an ace in the hole. Spending most of her allotted time letting her mind wander; she finally sprung to action at the halfway mark, when she noticed that her target had ceased writing. 'I hate to do this, but you're much too favorable a target,' she thought. Bending over as if she was going to pass out on her desk, she instead aligned her hands where she had a clear shot, whispered her technique, and drooped over completely.

Seconds later, Sakura's eyes glazed over momentarily before "she" grabbed her paper and memorized all of the answers, grinning mischievously.

…xXx…

In another part of the room, a kunoichi was debating the best way to enact her plan. She was decently sure she could pull it off, but she couldn't be sure. Finally, as the realization that time was running out came to mind, she made up her mind. Opening her mouth slightly, she breathed out a fine mist that almost instantaneously scattered into the air.

Moments later, proctors and participants alike in her corner of the room screamed as a great flash of light blinded them. Smirking, the young woman took advantage of this as she stole the paper next to her, knowing that it contained the correct answers, and jotted them down before her seatmate could recover.

…xXx…

Seated in the back row, another girl timidly glanced around at the people near her before extending her chakra throughout the room experimentally. Sensing the rapid movements of one of the genin writing on their exam paper, she quickly locked onto that individual and mimicked his movements through her sensory link.

…xXx…

Gaara appeared to be holding his head in his arms in thought or in pain, but he was only making sure to cover his eye, which was unusable at the time. Hovering near the ceiling was a third eye made entirely of sand, scanning the papers of everyone in the classroom. Upon locating a decent paper, he quickly sent out streams of sand to his siblings. Upon their papers, the sand formed into the right answers one by one before dispersing, allowing the sharp Sand ninja to write down the correct responses.

…xXx…

Finally, Naruto had been running through numerous ideas in his mind with Kurama, but none of them were feasible because he had no long distance sensory skill, and his genjutsu was limited to dispelling them, not casting them.

'I'm so screwed,' Naruto moaned internally, scratching his head in disgust, 'Sasuke and Sakura are going to kill me.' He continued the anxious tapping of his foot on Kurama's snout, where he was currently sitting/freaking out, 'Are you sure you don't know the answers to any of these questions?'

'**Uh, hello?**' it muttered back in growing ire, '**I'm not human, I never have been human, and I won't ever be human, past the lovely experience I get to have in your body. Why in the blue blazes would I know anything about human arithmetic?**'

'Geez, I was just asking…' the blonde mumbled back.

'**Yeah, well, let me ask you a question,**' the fox god rumbled, '**Why aren't you paying attention to your girlfriend? She's been trying to catch your eye for the past few minutes.**'

'Because I know what she wants to do, and I won't let her get disqualified for letting me peek at her paper,' Naruto replied immediately, ignoring the fox's snarky comment about Hinata being his girlfriend, 'I want to get through this with my own skills and not hinder anyone else's progress.' In his actual body, his eyes focused on the final question. 'I'm banking on being able to answer that final question.'

The multi-tailed fox shook its head in sheer disbelief. '**You are the mother of all idiots**.' Naruto shook off his tenant's insult and in the real world, leaned back and waited for the final question.

As the forty-five minute mark passed, the number of teams had whittled down significantly, though over half of the original number still remained. Ibiki stood in front of the room and boomed, "We've gotten rid of a lot of the rubbish, so I think we should institute the final question." The sounds of pencils on paper quickly came to a screeching halt as everyone tuned their ears to listen. "Before I tell you the question itself, there are a few more rules that I need to inform you about."

The room once again erupted into complaints, but the lead proctor quickly silenced that. "Silence! The next person that speaks out of turn is out of here, got it?" Not hearing anything to the contrary, he continued with his explanation, "You have a choice as to whether or not to accept this question. If you decide to decline the opportunity, you automatically lose all of your points, and your entire team fails..." He allowed that to sink into the minds of the genin before dropping the other bomb, "…but if you accept it and answer wrong, you will lose your ability to take this examination ever again." He smirked at the looks on their faces. "You have 15 minutes to make up your mind. Think quickly and carefully. If you wish to withdraw, just raise your hand." Walking back to his seat, he and the other proctors waited for the genin to make up their minds.

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned!

As I mentioned earlier, I included physical descriptions for each of the relevant genin, and my basis for each of their outfits were mixes of their Part 1 and Part 2 appearances, to account for the added age on each character.

Before I get into reviews, there's something I want to address that people perceive to be a major issue with the story, and I want to clear things up so people can understand why I did what I did. There is some level of concern about how weak the characters are in comparison with their boosted ages. First, I am shocked that people think that Team 7 is weak by any stretch of the imagination. A reviewer, windwarrior234, I believe put it best when he said that they are actually stronger than their canon counterparts by a significant deal, which was the goal. Sasuke and Naruto have significant advantages over their original counterparts thanks to much more knowledge in elemental training and the benefit of families, less scorn, and better instruction. As for the female member of the team, to be honest it wouldn't be too hard to make Sakura stronger than she is in canon, and as such I've begun her on a course to be more proficient with genjutsu, though medical training is on the horizon.

As the Chūnin Exams unfold, I think that you will find the members of the other three Hidden Leaf teams, and the rest of the characters in general, to be boosted accordingly, but my goal is always to have a more balanced story. I hate narratives where there are god-mode characters, they just aren't fun to read.

**Review Responses:**

**Ryuujin96:** I answered a major part of your first issue already, but I'll touch a little more on the rest. Naruto's parents have contributed greatly to his learning. At this point, only Kushina's influence can be seen, but before too long, Minato will have his day. As for Lee and Naruto, that was a necessary fight that I wanted to get past so I can proceed with the exams, and I figure that even with improved relationships amongst the genin, there still isn't much cross interaction when it comes to training amongst the classes. So while Teams 7, 8, and 10 are decently aware of each other's skills, Team 9 (what I'm deeming Gai's team) is more of a mystery in the minds of Naruto's class. No go on the Fūton Reppūken, Rasengan is and always will be an Uzumaki signature technique, but it won't be disappearing for good, don't worry.

**zigmas:** Thanks!

**windwarrior234:** Again, I addressed some of your comments above but as for the rest…I read your review over and over. Truly enjoyed your input and seeing some of your conjectures. I wish more people would take the time to give the type of constructive criticism that you have. You are on the right track with the initial deviation in time/space, but what occurred will have to wait until I deem it appropriate to reveal it.

**justsomerealguy:** Hey, as long as he's improving, that's all that matters right? I just can't take away his headstrong nature, though I'd like to think it's toned down a bit to accommodate a more mature character. And that's all I ask for, I guarantee you'll appreciate it once Zabuza makes his reappearance in the story.

**Soten-ni-zase:** When it comes to appearances, consider all characters to be post-timeskip size and a mix of pre- and post-timeskip. I included a bunch of descriptions here. Kushina, I refuse to give you an answer, which should give you your answer (lol). The origin of the butterfly effect, you're thinking too far in the past, it's a lot more recent than that. If Zabuza is messing you up, then let me say that everything contained in that interlude chapter, while original, is based in fact and should be considered as pre-butterfly effect for all intents and purposes. Haku and Shiro are just my personal addition, their genesis was just my own selfish desire.


	9. (Chūnin Exams 3) Chapter 8

AN: Here's Chapter 8! I hope you all are ready because this chapter contains the first real zinger of a plot twist/change of the story. And don't worry, unlike my previous somewhat veiled tweaks/omissions/additions, this one will be VERY obvious.

A complete aside here, but damn, I made Ibiki into such an asshole. I love his character, I couldn't help it.

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Kishimoto Masashi's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

(Chūnin Exams) Chapter 8 – Into the Forest of Death! The Second Stage Looms!

As fifteen minutes drew to its end, Ibiki checked his watch and stood up to take in the remaining genin teams. Quite a few had already left, so the room was much emptier than before, but he figured that Anko wouldn't be happy with the number still present, so he decided to make one last gambit to whittle them down. Silently and slowly, he began stalking around the room, his eyes boring into the back of the heads of every single person still in the room before examining their test paper. Though he would never say it out loud, he was pleasantly surprised at how many of the remaining genin had managed to hide their underhanded information gathering to answer most, if not all of the questions.

The way he started his route meant that his path ended near Naruto, so when he arrived at the blonde's seat and saw absolutely no writing, he began to chuckle ominously. Of course, the genin in question had no desire whatsoever to turn around and ask what the jōnin thought was so funny, and both Sasuke and Sakura feared the worst.

"So…" Ibiki murmured slowly, "…I see the esteemed son of our own Hokage saw it fit to try to squeak through this exam by only answering one question." He yanked the young man's chair around and knelt down so he was at eye level with Naruto, who glared back defiantly to hide the sheer terror he was feeling. "I've seen your kind before, the ones who put on such a brave and strong façade to hide how much of a low life coward they really are." He had been slowly moving his head forward, so now the two were nearly nose-to-nose, and his voice kept decreasing in volume. "You're the reason they let me proctor this exam. They knew I could purge the yellow bellied cats like you from the pool of genin so only the best candidates would get through to the second stage," he growled. Naruto had remained quiet throughout the entire endeavor, but Ibiki could tell he was getting to the blonde.

Sakura and Sasuke couldn't take any more of the insults he was sending the way of their teammate, and both jumped to their feet. "Where do you get off?" the pink haired kunoichi shouted, "So what if he only answers one question right? As long as Sasuke and I get at least one right too, we're fine!"

The young Uchiha took a different approach; he had sensed something off about the exam and decided to probe for information. "You seem awfully anxious to get rid of Naruto when he hasn't even answered the final question yet. Isn't this supposed to be a team-oriented exam? What happened to letting our scores speak for themselves?"

Ibiki backed away from Naruto and sent smoldering glares towards the other two members of Team 7. "If you're so confident in your teammate, then shut up and let him decide your fate. He holds the future of your careers in his hands right now, so _sit down…NOW_!" he roared. Because he turned back to his original target, he missed their complete disregard of his order, but he was focused on other things, as he resumed his interrogation. "So…Uzumaki Naruto…what will it be? Chicken out of the exam and live to fight another day, or put your whole future on the line for a question that you likely don't have the balls to answer?" He reached down and yanked the young man to his feet by his collar, nearly screaming in his face, "Let's hear it! What's your answer?"

The color of Naruto's eyes had slowly been changing during Ibiki's "conversation," and that last part had forced a full flush to red. He ripped himself free from the proctor's grasp and turned the tables on him by sticking his head right into Ibiki's face. "Where do you get off calling me a coward?" he hissed, and anyone who knew him could hear Kurama's influence in his voice, "I've never backed down from anything in my life, and I'm not going to start now. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I can answer any stupid question you throw my way, so hell yes I'm going to answer it so bring it on!" His impassioned speech energized the room, and all of the genin of his graduating class began to cheer, clap, or nod in approval (for the more subdued like Shino and Neji) at his bravado.

Ibiki backed away from the blonde, and his gaze swept the room once more. "It seems this little idiot right here," he said as he planted his fist into the top of Naruto's head, "boosted your morale quite a bit, so I probably can't get rid of any more of you. I guess it's as good of a time as any…" The entire room went silent as everyone's breath caught in their throats, and the proctor finally cracked a smile, "the 78 of you still here, you pass the first stage of the Chūnin Exams!"

The sheer shock on the faces of the test takers amused him to no end, and his scarred face broke out in a smile as he allowed a few chuckles to escape his mouth. "But what about the tenth question?" Sakura asked quickly, "What was the point of it?"

"Everyone still in this room answered the tenth question by trusting in their teammates to have faith in their own skills," he explained, "If a member of a team doesn't trust his or her teammates to have their back by fending for themselves in key situations, they were given the option to try again another time, with the assumption that they would build more rapport. On the other hand," and at this time, he pointed to Naruto and then his two teammates in turn, "even if you were concerned about the abilities of one of your squad mates to perform adequately, if you could trust in their ability to get by through whatever means necessary, you would end up staying here and passing. Being a chūnin team leader involves difficult choices like these, and having the courage to take a risk and believing in your team are key elements that villages look for in prospective chūnin."

Temari then raised her hand and asked, "It sounds like the only question that really mattered was the last one, so what were the point of the first 9?"

"I was just getting to that, but thank you for asking," Ibiki noted, nodding towards the Sand kunoichi, "I mentioned that part of trusting your teammates was believing that they could accomplish any task they put their mind to. Many, if not all of you, probably couldn't answer a single question on the exam I gave you. There was a good reason for that. Two of my own men were planted within the exam room with the right answers to the test questions, so the real goal of the first exam was to test your information gathering skills."

"So when you told us you didn't want us to cheat, what you really meant was you didn't want us to get caught cheating," Sasuke deduced.

"Correct, young man," Ibiki nodded in confirmation, "Getting caught cheating was a surefire way to get eliminated from the exam. If you couldn't figure out how to do it stealthily in your first few tries, you were kicked out. Another part of being a chūnin is having the ability to extract information without drawing attention, and a surefire way to get your team killed is to bumble around while trying to play ninja. If you can't be stealthy, there is no way anyone would place you in charge of a team and expect you to protect them."

The scarred jōnin checked his watch once more and addressed the group again, "Now, your proctor for the second exam should be here any seco…" but he was interrupted by the shattering of one of the windows. A large black ball careened into the room and shot open, revealing a cloth banner and a woman inside. She was extremely attractive and dressed very provocatively, with her core and undergarments covered in fishnet, a leather skirt, and a trench coat. Her purple hair was in a messy ponytail, and her gray eyes excitedly scanned the genin still present. The banner read 'Proctor of the Second Stage of the Hidden Leaf Village Chūnin Exams, Mitarashi Anko!' "Really, Ibiki?" she whined, "You passed 78 of them? That's 26 teams!"

"Well, we have a really good batch of candidates this year," he murmured from behind her hastily erected banner.

Anko sighed in defeat and faced the genin. Her face quickly took on a fearsome smile, and she shouted, "Alright, listen up maggots! The name's Mitarashi Anko, and I'll be proctoring the second stage of the Chūnin Exams!" She waved back at her fellow jōnin, who was ripping the black cloth from the ceiling where it had been stuck with kunai. "Ibiki here was too damn soft on you, so it's my job to cut your number by at least half! We'll be starting tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp outside of Practice Area 44, so don't be late or you're disqualified on the spot! Dismissed!" With that, she said no more and hurtled back out another window, sending another shower of glass flying to the street below.

The first stage being complete, the teams scattered throughout the classroom reassembled. As Naruto stood to greet his two teammates, he was quickly assaulted by a slap to the back of the head and a punch to the gut. "You're the mother of all idiots," Sasuke growled, pulling back his hand.

"Funny, Kurama said the same thing a few minutes ago," the blonde whimpered in pain.

Sakura shuddered as she allowed Anko's proclamation to sink in. "The second stage is in the Forest of Death? Isn't that a little much?" she asked, appearing slightly queasy.

"This is Anko we're talking about," Naruto muttered in return, "She doesn't know the definition of the word restraint."

"Fair enough," his female teammate muttered in reply.

_**The next morning, 7:45 a.m**_

Almost all of the genin had gathered in front of the fence surrounding Practice Area 44, and while most of the Hidden Leaf candidates were well aware of the reputation of the so-called "Forest of Death," it was clear that the entire crowd felt at least some apprehension upon being forced to travel into the ominous enclosure. While nothing overtly obvious could be seen from outside the gates, the tall trees, dark interior, and occasional growls, hisses, and cries from within did not serve to calm anyone's heart.

"Well…" Anko mused as she sauntered up to the examination site, "It looks like most of you are here, so if any of your teammates are missing, you can fill them in on what they missed." She gestured to the gated training area behind her. "For all you natives, you know full well what this is, but for the sake of our esteemed guests, let me be the first to introduce you to the Hidden Leaf Village's Forest of Death!" The sadistic smile on her face was an unnerving sight to many of the foreign ninja, and even the trio from Sand felt a little on edge. "We use this training ground for all manners of exercises because of the extreme fauna and foliage contained within." Walking over to the covered desk nearby, she picked up a stack of papers and came back over to face the large herd of teenagers. "These…" she said, waving the forms in her hand, "…are waivers for that very reason. Some of you are going to die, and we need your…_permission_…to waive any responsibility to the village for injuries incurred as a result of the exam. While you're receiving them, I'll go over the format, and you can decide whether or not to participate after you've heard what I have to tell you."

After handing them off to a squeamish Hidden Waterfall genin who jumped when she approached him, she addressed the crowd once more, this time with a diagram in hand and a more hardened look on her face, as she indicated specific parts of the arena. "This is a rough sketch of what is contained within this training area. As you can see, there is a tower in the center, and the distance from anywhere on the fence line to that structure is about 10 kilometers. Bisecting the field is a river, and the rest is occupied by forest and whatever animals that might be loose in there. You'll enter via one of the 44 gates scattered around the fence line." Putting the picture aside, this time she pulled out two scrolls, marked with the kanji for 'heaven' and 'earth.'

"What you'll be doing in there is a no holds barred death match to obtain these two scrolls," the psychotic proctor explained, "We have 26 teams here today, at least for the moment," and her face once again contorted into a sneer before going back to the more neutral expression, "so 13 will receive the heaven scroll, while the other 13 will receive the earth scroll. As you might imagine, in order to pass this second exam, you must make it to the tower with both scrolls."

Once more, a rumbling of anxiety and discontent ran through the crowd, and Anko let it die down before continuing again after setting the scrolls back down. "Starting when we open the gates, you'll have five days to find another scroll and make it to the tower. And for those of you who are wondering how to survive for that long," she added when she saw the question forming on Chōji's lips, "there are plenty of edible plants and wild game you can use as sustenance. Just watch out for all the poisonous plants and animals that bite back, and you'll be fine." Her smile didn't make anyone feel any better, and Sakura and Ino both dry heaved at the thought of eating bugs to get by.

"Finally," Anko said, "let's discuss what will get your ass kicked out of this exam." She held up three fingers. "The first is pretty obvious – if you don't make it to the tower in time with a set of scrolls, you're done. Two, if you can't make it there with a complete set and your entire team alive and intact, you're disqualified. And for anyone thinking that they can just quit whenever they want, you're sorely mistaken. Once you accept to enter Training Area 44, you're in there for five days whether you end up dead or not. And finally, as we expect chūnin to be discreet in how they handle sensitive information, you are not allowed to peek in the scrolls for any reason."

"And if we do…?" Naruto left the question on the table for her to answer.

She smirked at him and replied sweetly, "That's my little surprise for anyone who's got the balls to disobey me." That shut up the blonde rather fast. Addressing the crowd for the final time, she shouted, "When you're ready, submit your three forms by 8 a.m. at the tent over there…" and she jerked her finger in that direction, where a Hidden Leaf chūnin stood outside, likely as a guard, "…where we will assign you a gate. The exam starts at 8:30 a.m. so prepare yourself accordingly."

As the rest of the crowd began to disperse, some immediately heading for the tent and others deciding to talk it over a little, one team was in more distress than the others.

"Where the hell is he?" Naruto asked anxiously as he checked his cell for the umpteenth time, "He should have been here fifteen minutes ago." In his hand were two forms; he had made sure to grab an extra one when he realized that his teammate wasn't present yet.

"Maybe his phone's turned off," Sakura mused as she too fidgeted with worry, "It's not like Sasuke to be late like this. Do you think something's wrong?"

"I'm here." The two present members of Team 7 jumped in surprise and wheeled around to see their missing teammate, and instantly they realized he wasn't all right. His eyes were bleary, his nose was puffy and leaking, and a rattling cough exited his mouth every few moments.

"Oh hell, what's wrong with you?" Naruto hissed, "You look terrible!"

Even in his state, Sasuke found a way to glare at his best friend as he snapped weakly, "Don't you think I know that, moron? Auntie Kushina thinks I have the flu. I won't tell you what it took to convince her I'd be fine."

Sakura voiced the worries both of them were feeling, "But are you going to be fine? You should be in bed right now, not fighting off enemy ninja!"

While he appreciated her concern, he waved her off and replied, "It's fine, we can handle it. Gimme that form, I heard most of what Anko said." Before Naruto could react, he had the consent waiver snatched from his hand, and Sasuke began to wobble his way to the tent.

After receiving their scroll, they were taken by escort to the correct gate to wait for the starting time to roll around, and due to the state their teammate was in, Naruto and Sakura were desperately trying to come up with some kind of plan. "I've got nothing. I don't have a clue how we could avoid every single team and still get a scroll," the pinkette moaned.

The blonde looked contemplative, which if he had not been so ill, Sasuke would have found humorous. "I have a plan…" he said slowly, "…but you'll have to trust me."

"I'll take anything at this point," Sakura muttered, while the ill Uchiha nodded his consent.

"Alright, here's what I have," Naruto said as he looked at his two teammates, "As soon as the exam starts, I'm going to send two sets of Shadow Clones towards the gates immediately to our left and right. Hopefully one of them has the earth scroll we need," as he held up the corresponding heaven scroll that had been given to their team, "and I can catch them off guard because they won't be expecting an attack that fast."

"But how do you plan on getting it?" Sasuke croaked, "They're not going to let you just have it, and your clones aren't sturdy enough for a full fight."

"Good point, but they won't be sticking around long enough to fight, just to steal it and get out of there," he explained as his face fell, "Unfortunately, that's the easy part."

"That's easy?" Sakura asked dubiously.

The blonde nodded grimly. "Since I won't be fighting but rather stealing, they'll be hot on the trail of the clones. And once the clone returns to give us the scroll, they'll be all over us, which brings us to the next part…"

"Yeah, how in the world are you planning on getting away from an angry genin team with Sasuke in the condition he's in," the young woman demanded, for once ignoring the Uchiha's exclamation of indignation.

"I can use Kurama's chakra to boost my speed, but you two obviously can't do anything like that…" Naruto said slowly, beginning to tap his fingers together nervously, "…so I thought you two could piggy-back on me and a clone, and we make stra…" That statement went unfinished, as both of his teammates slugged him upside the head.

"That's your stupid plan?" Sakura screeched, "Steal a scroll and piggy-back to the finish line?"

While more muted, Sasuke was no less nonplussed but cautiously intrigued. "That sounds like a stretch, Naruto. Do you think you could keep that up over 10 kilometers?"

The young Uzumaki was rubbing his head where he had received the two blows. "You didn't have to hit so hard…" he groaned, "Of course I can! I could probably do double that without feeling too tired!"

That was enough for the ill young man, and he nodded his consent with a cough. Both boys then looked at their counterpart of the fairer sex, and she finally gave up after a few seconds and spluttered, "Fine, have it your way!" Naruto grinned happily, while Sasuke allowed a small smirk by before wheezing a few more times.

The time quickly grew near, and the genin tensed as the guard at their gate checked his watch before turning around to unlock the opening in the fence. As the gate swung open, he looked down at Team 7 and said simply, "Good luck." They needed no further incentive and ducked inside as the chūnin closed the fence behind him.

Naruto wasted no time as he molded his favorite handseal and exclaimed, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Immediately, 11 clones materialized in the space before them. They split into two pairs of five and shot off in opposite directions, while the remaining one remained by the original. "Now we wait…" the young blonde murmured as both he and his copy lit up with a two-tailed cloak of the Kyūbi's chakra. He looked at his teammates and said, "Get on. We need to be ready as soon as the first set of clones dismiss." Sasuke immediately stumbled over to the clone and grudgingly got on its back, while Sakura sighed in defeat and hopped on Naruto's back.

No more than three minutes later, the pupils of the two Uzumakis' eyes shrunk momentarily, and the original shouted, "Alright, let's go!" Without any more warning, Team 7 shot into the woods at superhuman speeds.

As the two Narutos sped through the underbrush, Sasuke piped up and shouted as loud as his aching throat would allow, "What are your clones doing?"

"No idea," was the somewhat unsettling response he received, "Each group was supposed to disperse one clone upon finding the group, three were assigned to steal the scroll, and I should feel the last two dispersing soon as soon as the attackers get the scroll and escape." That seemed to satisfy Sasuke, as he said no more. Sakura didn't speak up at all; if Naruto could see the squeamish look on her face, he would have tried to move in a more controlled manner.

Five more minutes passed before Naruto received the next signals, surprisingly only seconds apart. "Get ready! We're going to have to speed up momentarily!" he shouted, ignoring the groan of protest near his right ear.

No sooner than he had said that, from out of the underbrush two clones burst from his left, and one emerged on his right. "We've got a Sand squad on our tail, but thank the heavens it wasn't Gaara's team!" the left-hand group shouted, throwing an earth scroll Naruto's way, much to Team 7's pleasant surprise, "They're pretty slow on this type of terrain, so I wouldn't worry about them!" With their report finished, both dispersed, and their memories flooded back to the original.

"My targets are more worrisome, Boss," the lone right-hand clone shouted, tossing a duplicate heaven scroll Naruto's way, "They were a group of Grass ninja, and my two partners had to resort to that technique we've been working on to escape. The leader was hot on my tail, a real slimy looking girl with long hair and a freaky tongue! Good luck!" With that, he too dispersed.

"Okay, we've got what we need!" Naruto exclaimed as he handed the two stolen parcels back to Sakura, who put them in her belt pouch, "Time to get out of here before either team catches up with that!" Without any warning, even as shurikens began to fly by their heads, he and his clone sped up even more, leaving the fast approaching Grass ninja far behind.

_**Day 1, around 8:30 p.m.**_

While Team 7 took advantage of the element of surprise and became the first team to the goal in the fastest time ever recorded in the history of the Hidden Leaf Village Chūnin Exam, other groups were not nearly so lucky and were struggling to get through the first day.

"This is the worst," Ino complained loudly, "They expect us to find food in this god-forsaken forest all by ourselves? What a ripoff!"

"If you spent as much time looking for edible things as you did complaining," Shikamaru growled, already beginning to lose his patience, "we'd have enough to last for ten days!"

"Then why aren't you out looking for stuff, Mr. Naptime?" she retorted angrily, "You could be helping Chōji right now!"

"Helping me with what?" the round young man in question asked contently as he reentered the clearing with an armful of plants and two slain rabbits. He set them down near the fire that they had erected once Team 10 had decided to rest for the night and began to skin the rabbits. "We've got plenty to last until tomorrow," he explained casually, "I'll have something whipped up before you know it!"

The lone female of the group sneered at the cooking meat that Chōji had racked over the fire and shook her head when he saw some small bugs being skewered. "No thank you, I'll just take a salad," she muttered in disgust.

"Suit yourself!" the rotund ninja replied as he continued to prepare their dinner.

As Ino drew out a magazine from her pack and began to read, and Chōji fiddled around with the food and meat, Shikamaru lay on a bed of leaves, the occasional rise and fall of his chest being the only indication that he was asleep and not in a worse state. However, something made his eyes shoot open, and he propped himself up on his elbows. "Chōji, Ino," he muttered softly in a serious tone, and while neither one stopped what they were doing, the slight shifting of their eyes betrayed their heightened level of caution.

The campsite that they had erected was under the shade of a small cliff, so the only area they had to worry about protecting was the clearing in front of them, which quickly rose to match the height of the cliff surrounding them. The fire created dancing shadows on the ground and trees but was fairly well hidden by the depressed terrain.

The rustling of the shrubbery at the top of the incline drew the gazes of Team 10, and they saw two young men, no more than a year or two older than them, emerge from the plant life. "Well, well, well, what do we have here brother?" the one on the left murmured.

"A few minnows trying to hide downstream…" the other replied in elevated tones. Both teens were wearing identical outfits, and by their facial features, they were quite obviously twins. They wore oversized long sleeved, light blue shirts that extended past their hands, dark grey pants, and boots instead of the normal ninja sandal. The headbands on each of their foreheads betrayed their allegiance to the Hidden Waterfall Village, gray hair blew in the light breeze wafting through the trees, and the burnt orange of their eyes danced in delight at the prey in front of them. The only features distinguishing the twins were the slicked back hair and x-shaped scar on the left cheek of the one on the left and the buzzcut the one on the right sported.

By now, all pretenses were dropped. Ino and Chōji leapt to their feet and stood outside of the outcropping, while Shikamaru sat up and peered at their foes with an alert gaze. "It's a pleasure to be making the acquaintance of the Hidden Waterfall Village," he said dryly, "but you seem to be missing a teammate. My team and I don't enjoy being underestimated."

"Aw, don't you like us?" a voice behind Team 10 purred softly. All three Leaf genin spun around and saw an intruder who had somehow snuck behind them. This newcomer was quite obviously a female, though she crouched by the fire in a most unladylike manner as she munched on some of the food that Chōji had gathered. Her shoulder length spiky teal hair held a simple orange clip near her face, and she wore her Waterfall headband as a band on her upper right arm. Her chest and upper abdomen were covered by fishnets, though her shoulders and stomach were left uncovered, and a simple cutoff white top shielded her bosom. Matching armlets covered her arms, and a short white skirt covered her mesh shorts.

'How'd she get the drop on me?' Shikamaru thought in surprise, 'There's no way she could get past me without my sensing it…'

"You look surprised, man," she commented casually, even as she ripped a slice of meat from a cooked rabbit. "We're just here to have some fun, right?"

"Where do you get off?!" Ino exploded, "That's our dinner you're eating!"

The female Waterfall ninja smirked and gestured with the remains of the lagomorph in her hands. "Are you sure about that? I thought you were just going to eat some plants?" Raising her voice, she shouted to her teammates, "Hey, guys, we have a dieter down here!"

"Uh oh," the brother with the buzzcut chuckled, "Sis is all fired up. You know how she gets with girls who diet."

The other brother nodded in amusement. "She'll be a mess the rest of this damn exam for sure," he replied.

"You know I can hear you two, right?" she snapped from her position down on the ground.

Both of her brothers shook their heads in amusement and leapt down to bracket the Hidden Leaf ninja. "I know our two villages are allied, but that doesn't mean we won't fight with everything we've got," the longer haired teen stated matter-of-factually.

Team 10 turned their attention back to the brothers, and Shikamaru muttered, "Well of course not. Do we at least get the pleasure of knowing who you are?"

"But of course," the one with the buzzcut responded pleasantly, "My name is Kanchū Hisen, and this…" as he gestured to the teen next to him, who saluted briefly, "is my brother Tarumi. And the lovely girl behind you is our sister F…"

"Don't you dare, Hisen!" she screeched, and the Hidden Leaf ninja spun back around more because of the buzzing that had entered their ears than her defiant exclamation. To their shock, she was no longer standing there but rather hovering a few feet off the ground, thanks to a set of vibrating wings that had seemingly formed from her back. "My brothers think it's funny to tease me with my real name," she spluttered angrily, "My name is Fū, and that's all you three need to know!"

"Whatever you say…" Tarumi replied lazily, almost adding the last part as an aside, "…_Fūka_."

That sure did it, as the teal haired girl exploded in anger and started to scream all manners of obscenities at her kin, who simply laughed it off. Shikamaru took advantage of the distraction and whispered to his teammates, "I have a feeling that these three are stronger than they're letting on."

"No kidding," Ino retorted, "That girl's flying! Have you ever seen that before?"

Shikamaru shook his head, and his best friend, looking slightly worried, asked, "What's the plan?"

The young genius in their group closed his eyes momentarily, trying to think of something to do. Obviously he came up with an acceptable plan of attack, as he quickly whispered to his teammates, "Ino, you're on the girl. Chōji, you've got the two guys. I'm going to trap all three so you can get a jump on them, and then I'll back up Chōji. Sound good?" His two teammates and friends nodded their agreement and stood back up slowly so as to not tip off the Waterfall team. Shikamaru drew himself into a kneeling position and quickly made the handseal for his family's signature technique. As he extended his chakra out, he could still feel the net he had cast with his Kage Binpō (Shadow Trap Method) intact in the area around the fire, so he took a more firm hold of his shadows, consolidating them into more definite tendrils and began extending them towards the shadows cast by the bickering siblings. Even as he did that, he thought nervously, 'Ino's right. I have a really bad feeling this is going to be a tough fight.'

…xXx…

All around the Forest of Death, teams were doing their best to set up camp. Either for injury, for planning, or to escape onslaught, teams were doing their best to gauge the overall health of the individual members and assess how move forward after a day's worth of experience in the vaunted woodland. None of the genin squads were anywhere close to the tower; those who held a proximity advantage over others were lacking in a scroll, while those who had already completed the collection were having to take a break to catch their breath.

Without drawing any attention whatsoever, a shadow silently darted through the bushes, without fail identifying every single camp of genin within the range of its senses. The mystery man moved with a purpose, as if searching for a specific target amongst the near infinite life sources hidden amongst the shrubbery of the forest.

Finally, the shadow came to a screeching halt a few hundred feet away from a clearing in the trees. While there wasn't anything obviously amiss, the figure was not an amateur; he could easily see through the deception being created by a genjutsu technique. While not inherently unusual to a casual passerby, the large mound at the edge of the clearing was not a landmark of the forest, and the figure grinned in anticipation as he realized the deception. "You might be able to fool the genin in this exam, but you're not going to trick me," he hissed, "Even after all these years, I still know these woods like the back of my hand…" As his slitted yellow eyes glinted in the faint light of the moon, the man's mouth opened with anticipation, revealing the long, snakelike tongue within…

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned!

Hope you liked the plot twist! Now that Team 7 is safely in the tower, the second stage will focus primarily on the _other_ teams taking part in the exam. Of course, that begs the question, is Orochimaru going to show up or is he a non-factor? Rest assured, he's still lurking around and waiting to make his move, as the end of the chapter indicates quite clearly.

I hope everyone now has figured out exactly who the second mystery girl is. It's made rather obvious.

Also forgive the short chapter, but it was a good place to cut it off.

**Review Responses:**

**windwarrior234:** Kurama will always believe Naruto to be an idiot. That won't ever change through time, space, media, whatever.

I took the time to go into the first stage precisely for the introduction of the two girls you mentioned. I actually pretty explicitly stated the identity of one of them, if you piece the two parts together. The other is obvious if you have an extremely high level of Japanese proficiency (admittedly, the kanji would help but also give it away), a sharp mind, and the ability to put name (once you decipher it) + village + technique together. I'll let you have fun figuring it out. If not this chapter, then you'll know next chapter anyways :p

You're much more on the money with character development than you might have thought, as you can see with the way the exams are going.


	10. (Chūnin Exams 4) Chapter 9

AN: Chapter 9 time! Let's see how the Chūnin Exams look when Team 7 isn't the focal point.

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Kishimoto Masashi's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

**Last time:** As the first stage of the Chūnin Exams winded down, the field was whittled down to a mere 27 teams thanks to Ibiki's imposing personality. As he moved aside to allow Anko to take charge for the second stage, the chūnin candidates were introduced Training Area 43, also known to the residents of the Hidden Leaf Village as the Forest of Death. Much to their dismay, Naruto and Sakura were forced to change their plans due to Sasuke's flu diagnosis. As the second stage began, Naruto concocted a plan to quickly obtain the other scroll required to pass and managed to obtain not one but two of the enemy teams' trophies, though not without one of them in hot pursuit. As they rushed to the tower in record time, Team 10 made camp for the night before Shikamaru was alerted to the presence of a Hidden Waterfall sibling team that had located them, including a girl named Fū who had the ability to grow wings and fly. Elsewhere, as a yet to be identified team made shelter for the night, a dark figure observed them from a distance…

(Chūnin Exams) Chapter 9 – Danger Looms! The Hidden Perils of the Forest of Death!

_**Elsewhere**_

Still hidden under the disguise that he had used to enter the Hidden Leaf Village, Orochimaru quietly observed his prey as his sharp eyes and well honed instincts allowed him to discreetly peer through the genjutsu laid on the area. The Hidden Leaf rogue's tongue slowly emerged from his mouth and drew lightly over his lips in anticipation. "At least I will have one of my prey in hand before this night is up," he hissed softly, "The Kyūbi boy may have caught me off guard and spoiled one of my plans, but his team was only one of my objectives." His face briefly contorted in anger at being caught with his guard down, but the expression was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "The one before me…yes…that one is much more important to me. He is vital to the success of my plan." Without any sound, his body began to sink into the ground, and within moments there was no evidence that anyone had been there.

_**At Team 10's campsite**_

"Ino, Chōji, are you ready?" Shikamaru muttered, using the sibling bickering as a cover to begin their attack.

"Ready to be done with these exams?" the beautiful blonde snapped, "Yes, please." Still, she drew her hands up into a prepared position as she leaded back against Shikamaru's back and aimed at the hovering female in front of her. In front of them, Chōji said nothing and simply nodded his confirmation as he began to mold chakra into his limbs.

"Alright, on my mark, we strike," the de facto leader of Team 10 whispered, "We still don't know which of them has the scroll, or if it is the one we need, so we need to hit fast and hard before they catch on to our attacks." The Nara heir closed his eyes briefly and reestablished the link with his shadow.

Unknown to any of the Waterfall siblings, the Leaf genin had chosen their shelter quite strategically. Despite being quite an open and easy to spot target for enemies, the light being cast by the fire draped shadows all over the surrounding area. And having a good grasp of his clan's techniques, Shikamaru had set up a sensory net in the immediate vicinity to catch anyone who stepped within a shadow within a few hundred feet of the campsite. Now, he was consolidating the tendrils of his own extended shadow into three, more defined groups.

Their targets were still arguing amongst themselves about the whole issue of the female sibling's rage at her parents' choice of name. "I just don't get why you're all worked up," Hisen was saying, "It's your name. You'd think you'd like your own name."

"You don't see us complaining about our names, do you?" Tarumi added.

The enraged tomboy hadn't moved much from her spot under the overhang, but she now blew past the Leaf genin and got right in the face of her brothers. "Let me tell you something about complaining…" she said as she began to rip into her siblings once again.

Shikamaru really didn't care what was being said, but he was pleased that they were all now in one place. Ino shifted her position so that she was kneeling in front of her teammate instead of standing behind him, and Chōji made sure to move himself out of her line of sight. The Nara heir made the slightest movement with his hands, and unseen to the Waterfall ninja, their shadows all lengthened by a significant margin. "Alright, let's go!" he shouted, and that momentarily stopped the bickering siblings as they heard his exclamation.

Chōji wasted no time, as his arms ballooned in size with a shout of, "Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Expansion Technique)!" A burst of energy from his legs gave him a running start at the enemy trio, who ceased their bickering and tensed in anticipation.

"Nice try with the sneak attack," Hisen muttered, "but you'll have to do better than that!" He and his brother made to extract weapons from their hip pouches, but their arms, along with their bodies, suddenly locked up, and they were unable to move a muscle. In the air near them, Fū remained hovering thanks to her wings, but she too had lost all movement in her limbs. However, she did not look all that worried, as did her brothers.

Shikamaru smirked and unclasped his hands. "Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Technique), success," he said confidently, as his shadow made contact with all three of the shadows of the Waterfall ninja. Thanks to his teammate's work, Chōji was able to quickly ascent the hill and grasp both of the two males in his enlarged hands, making sure to allow his best friend time to disengage the technique and focus solely on the hoverer. He pinned them to the ground and kept his gaze on their sister. Ino was up next, and with nary a sound, she took aim at the flying female and slumped back against Shikamaru's legs. Again, he made sure to release her once she had been completely possessed.

Noting that everything was going according to plan so far, the Nara ninja raised his voice slightly and addressed his other teammate, "Chōji, see if they're holding the scroll. I'll check…"

His statement was loudly interrupted by the unexpected return of Ino's spirit to her body, and her mouth let loose a loud scream of pain. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and as he knelt down to see what was wrong with the Yamanaka, his eyes narrowed as he took in Fū's hovering form, obviously free from any restraints.

At the same time, Chōji yelped in agony and jumped away from his captives. Shikamaru was able to see large gashes on both of his enlarged palms as the twins rose to their feet, both wielding kunai attached to wrist holsters. Both of them retracted the blades, and Tarumi reached behind his back and withdrew the scroll from a pouch on his belt, the kanji for heaven visible. "I'm not too worried about you getting this, but it'll be much more fun to play around with you if you have a target," he stated smoothly.

"Especially if you have two of us to target," Hisen added, as he withdrew another scroll from his own pouch, this time being an earth scroll. Both of them quickly replaced them into their hip pouches and settled into relaxed but prepared battle positions.

Chōji warily took them in and rushed in once again. Swinging his enlarged right fist with much more dexterity than his size would indicate, he managed to catch them off guard, and Tarumi was forced to bring both hands up to block. That wasn't enough to stop the momentum of the Akimichi's strike, as he flew through the air past his brother and landed in a heap at the base of a large oak. Still, it did open the door for Hisen to charge in swinging, and he began to exchange blows with Chōji, keeping up with surprising efficiency at the mauling lunges of the larger fighter.

Meanwhile, making a last ditch effort, Shikamaru sent his shadow after the Waterfall female, who had begun to watch her brothers fight the large Akimichi. While it was a seemingly successful ploy, he watched in dismay as she shattered his control as if it was nothing. His eyes narrowed in thought as the gears in his head began turning. Changing tactics, he knelt down and softly asked his teammate, "What happened?"

Ino was still clutching her head in pain, and even speaking was an effort. "There's something else in her," she managed to whisper, "I only got a glimpse of it before I got forced out, but it looked like a giant bug of some kind."

Thanking her for her effort, Shikamaru ceased talking and settled into a contemplative pose. Taking in all the factors thus far, he could only come to one conclusion, and it was a rather horrifying one, if he was honest with himself. The foreign girl hovering in front of them had the ability to manifest wings from her body, seemingly out of nothing but chakra. Ino was unable to get anywhere with her Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique). Well, if he was being honest with himself, she was completely rejected, and she seemed to think that there was something…_else_…inside of her. Even he had felt that, when his Shadow Possession failed to restrain her at all, and now that he thought about it, she probably could have freed herself at any time when he captured them all earlier.

All of these factors led to the same conclusion that he had drawn already, so he decided to switch tactics. "Hey!" he shouted, "Fū, was it?"

"Yes, sweetie? Ready to give up yet?" she asked, still smiling without any worry.

"No, but I do have a question for you, if you're willing to answer it," he said slowly, closely monitoring her reaction. Seeing her nod, he asked, "How many tails?" Even though he too wasn't worried about repercussions, he still tensed because he wasn't sure about how the winged girl would react to his inquiry.

Maybe not pleasantly, but he was surprised by the way Fū's face quickly lit up in excitement. "Oooh, you're a smart one, aren't you?" she bubbled happily, "It usually takes people a lot longer to figure it out. What clued you in?"

"I have a friend who's just like you," Shikamaru shot back, "Fighting you is a lot like fighting him…a real pain in the ass."

She nodded appreciatively and held up both of her hands, with seven fingers remaining upright. "I'm more than happy to tell you since you managed to deduce that just from a little information, but I'm not sure how it's going to help you," she said confidently as she began to slowly hover away from them and back towards her brothers.

"It distracted you, didn't it?" the smart genin retorted. Fū looked confused at the statement, and that cost her. She sensed the oncoming attack but wasn't able to completely defend herself as a giant fist smashed into her side and sent her flying into the darkness of the forest. Both of the Waterfall twins were in fast pursuit of Chōji, who quickly turned to confront them, but Tarumi halted in mid jump, and Hisen was startled enough by the abrupt stop that he was smashed away by another oversized swing of the Akimichi's left arm.

The large genin leapt to the side of his best friend, and Shikamaru carefully lifted Ino's limp form into his arms. "I'll keep her occupied," he said to Chōji and the Yamanaka in Tarumi's possessed body. His face grew weary at the thought, and he added ruefully, "Try not to take too long." With that, he leapt into the woods after the Seven Tails jinchūriki.

"We'll do our best," Ino's possessed body shouted after him.

A groaning behind them drew their attention, and the two remaining members of Team 10 turned to face Hisen, who had begun to rise to his feet. He was favoring his right arm, which hung at a somewhat awkward angle, and his eyes bugged out at the sight of his brother's form standing next to two Hidden Leaf ninja. "You'd think I wouldn't be surprised by anything by having a sister with a giant bug in her, but I'm not sure I get this…" he muttered.

"Do you think you can handle him?" Chōji asked, taking great care to handle his teammate's body carefully in his enlarged palms. As he said that, a large flash of light in the forest behind them signaled their need for haste.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Ino said with a huff, shooting her teammate a glare before launching herself at the stunned Hisen. The Waterfall ninja, despite knowing something was up with his brother, was still not completely sure about what was going on, and as such, he reacted to the engagement as if he was sparring with Tarumi at home.

That was a grave error. Expecting the slow and deliberate punches and sweeps that his brother favored in the use of his fighting style, the hard elbow to his gut was quite a shock, and the follow up knee to the same place and a fist smash to his head only served to disorient him further.

He had no reason to know the fighting style of Yamanaka Ino because he wasn't a member of the Hidden Leaf Village, but of Team 7 she was by far the most skilled at taijutsu. While Shikamaru avoided all physical confrontations in favor of using his shadows as extensions of his limbs, and Chōji was skilled at brute force but not fine movement in his taijutsu, Ino was another story altogether. Many would look at the pretty teenager kunoichi and automatically assume that she had no desire to get her hands dirty while fighting, and to some extent that was true. However, while it wasn't anywhere near a complete fighting style, she was very adept at elbow and knee thrusts and backhand strikes, protecting her fingers and feet from attack while striking in an unpredictable manner thanks to her natural flexibility.

Hisen was finding this out the hard way, as he was not only expecting his brother's style but also not fast enough to keep up with the young woman's barrage. Being in another body robbed Ino of her limber movements, but it did grant her a greater level of strength behind her blows. Left knee to the stomach, left elbow to the face, double fist slam to the head, right knee to the chin. He was utterly unable to defend himself from the staggering blows, and as he weakly stumbled back towards the tree where partially collapsed, he didn't try to defend himself as Chōji's free fist gently closed around him.

Chucking the scroll in Tarumi's belt on top of her body in her teammate's hands, Ino quickly crossed the distance to the tree line, snaked her arms into the belt of her enemy and extracted the other scroll. Throwing that one in the same manner as the first, she glanced back and said, "I'm starting to lose control. He wasn't too happy to see me beat her brother up." Taking a length of rope from Chōji's hip pouch, she tied Tarumi's hands together with increasingly difficulty, and with great effort managed to complete the release of her technique.

As she awoke in her own body and stowed the purloined scrolls in her own pockets, Chōji released the exhausted Hisen to the ground, and Tarumi awoke, shouting, "You won't get away with this! I'll get you back for what you did to my brother!"

Ino landed lightly on the ground as her teammate's hands shrunk back down to a normal size. She looked at the twin brothers with the slightest bit of regret and apology in her eyes and said softly, "You know it wasn't personal." As both she and Chōji turned to join their teammate, just as another large flash erupted in the depths of the forest, she threw a last remark over her shoulder. "I hope your brother is okay." With that, they departed, leaving Tarumi to fume.

_**A short distance away**_

For what seemed like the hundredth time, the forest lit up with an unnatural light, bathing everything within a hundred yards in a blinding luminosity. Huffing heavily from behind the safety of a large tree, Shikamaru tentatively stuck his foot enough to create a small shadow and quickly shot it across the slight gap in the foliage. Because he couldn't judge exactly where the sparkling powder had originated, he was mostly taking blind stabs, and his worries were confirmed when he felt his chakra lengthened shadow come to a screeching halt way short of the maximum length. Sighing, he retracted it before Fū could catch a glimpse of his location.

The fights had been going mostly the same since the onset of their one on one fight. Once Fū had caught on to Shikamaru's technique, she surprisingly didn't try to restrict his ability to create light and shadows but rather compounded the effect using her Hiden – Rinpungakure no Jutsu (Secret – Hiding in Scale Powder Technique) to cancel out the flash bombs the young Nara (admittedly) skillfully positioned to her rear. As a result, he hadn't gotten anywhere near her, and his shadows remained hidden in the darkness or eradicated by her illuminating scale powder.

'I only have about 30 percent of my chakra left,' he mused to himself, 'and nothing I've done so far has worked to stop her. While it doesn't grant nearly as much of a boost as the Kyūbi does to Naruto, the bird or bug jinchūriki inside of her and the wings do let her dodge my shadows rather efficiently.' Rummaging in his sack, he pulled his hand out and opened it to reveal one remaining flash bomb, and his face tightened as he began to feel a small amount of anxiety creeping into his chest. 'I'm not sure I like these odds…I'm just not equipped to fight a jinchūriki…' he admitted to himself, though he continued to wrack his mind for other plays.

Way too close to his liking, no more than a couple of trees over from his current location, he heard Fū's singsong voice cry out, "Come out, come out, wherever you are, little caterpillar." Shikamaru had to quickly shift position to preserve his safety as the empowered kunoichi hovered nearby. Her appearance had taken on a shape much more like that of a bug through the use of a chakra cloak. The bubbling green energy around her head was in the vague shape of a pointed helmet, her fingers were longer and her fingernails more sharp, and one of the two insect wings was covered, though the other was left bare, indicating her use of her tenant's energy only up to a level of one tail.

"If you don't want to come out, I can certainly think of a couple of ways to flush you out," she trilled. Her eyes scanned the areas with pupils much more akin to insect eyes than human, and the buzz from her wings echoed off the trees of the forest, creating a dull roar that reverberated through the night sky. Not finding her prey to be amenable to revealing himself, she took it upon herself to flush him out. Forming a few quick handseals, she raised her voice to make sure her target heard her and shouted, "Hiden – Rinpun Dokujiri (Secret – Scale Powder Poison Scattering)!" From both her mouth and wings a sickly yellow haze emitted in all directions, and Fū's eyes quickly scanned the forest floor for signs of any movement.

Her eyes locked on to the sound of rustling coming from behind one of the trees to her right. While the powder she created was considered a poison, it could be retooled for a number of different effects and strengths, and the version she had emitted this time was a paralysis formulation. So while it hurt like hell when inhaled, it was relatively harmless and usually wore off within a couple of minutes. Still, it was enough to grab something from the target, such as a scroll, and the insect host slowly hovered closer to the tree.

As she peaked around the trunk, she did find the source of the rustling noise, but to her horror it was merely Shikamaru's vest tied to a spring-loaded branch so it flopped back and forth through the underbrush. Fū whirled around as her ears caught another sound, but this time she was too late to counteract the flash bomb that erupted in a literal blaze of glory behind her. She was briefly able to make out Shikamaru's form in front of the flash bomb, but she couldn't prevent the searing pain that shot through her retinas, compounded by the influence of the Nanabi inside of her.

Her ears were unaffected, though, and to her dismay, Fū heard the Nara ninja murmur, "Kage Santen Fūin (Shadow Three Point Seal), success." She heard rather than saw his steps as he approached her, and this time, her attempts to disrupt the shadow lock on her were much less successful. Slowly, as additional bodies landed in the clearing and her eyes regained their sight, she could see that Shikamaru's teammates had rejoined him, and a three-pronged seal wrapped in a circle restrained her feet, using her shadow as the base.

The finally victorious Nara turned to Ino and Chōji and asked, "How'd you fare?" Though weary, the Akimichi smiled softly and gave a thumbs up, and the female member of Team 10 pulled out the two scrolls that she had taken from Hisen and Tarumi. "Excellent," he nodded in satisfaction, "Now, let's say we get out of here, huh? That won't hold her for long, and it burned through all of the chakra that I had left."

"No objections here!" Ino muttered in disgust. Her eyes flew down to her hands, which had been dirtied up quite a bit in the struggle, "I could use a shower and some food. I keep forgetting she," and the Yamanaka jerked her thumb at the restrained jinchūriki, "ate our dinner."

As Team 10 took to the trees in their journey to the central tower, Chōji astutely noted, "Your dinner? I thought you just wanted a salad?"

"…shut it."

Approximately ten minutes after they had departed, and Fū was completely sure that they were gone for good, she shattered Shikamaru's seal like it was nothing, having put on an appearance for show. Noting that there was no need to sustain her increased power, she let the chakra cloak shimmer away, and her wings slowly disappeared. Exhaling as the slight pressure of the bijū's power lifted from her body, she reached into her own hip pouch and withdrew both a heaven and an earth scroll, just as Tarumi landed in the clearing, supporting his weakened brother. "Good job, boys," she noted, "They didn't suspect a thing."

"You're one to talk," Tarumi muttered, "You didn't get slapped around like a bunch of rag dolls." He indicated his brother, who was awake and alert but still very beat down. "That Yamanaka chick really did a number on him, and she did it in my body."

The injured brother grinned through the pain and added, "Still, it was kinda sexy the way she did it. I like girls with some spunk."

"Really?" Tarumi questioned incredulously, "Really? You think that was sexy? You've really lost it."

Fū shook her head in amused disbelief and turned in the direction that the Hidden Leaf team had departed. "Let's forget about them for now. They're not our problem any more. Soon enough they'll figure out that the earth scroll is just a normal one under a genjutsu, and they'll either be extremely happy or pissed off."

"You're welcome for that, by the way, sis," Hisen groaned in pain, "It took a lot to keep that illusion up the entire time I was getting my ass handed to me."

She beckoned the two of them over, and she slung her injured brother's more damaged arm gently around her shoulder, eliciting a slight hiss from him. "Shall we?" she asked rhetorically, as the Waterfall team took off in a leisurely manner towards the tower.

_**Second day of the second phase, early evening**_

The lone group of genin participating from the graduating class right before that of Naruto's age range were currently en route to the center of the Forest of Death. They had gotten very lucky with the location of their gate, as they had encountered another team from the Hidden Leaf Village only twenty minutes into the start of the scavenger hunt/battle royale hybrid test. Lee and Tenten were both unfamiliar with the members of that particular squad, and while their faces were vaguely familiar to Neji, he didn't feel any particular impulse to hold back just because they were comrades of the same village.

In fact, he didn't even do much in the way of fighting. After briefly consulting about the best way to snatch the scroll, they had come to the conclusion that a surprise attack was the most efficient method and the one most likely to succeed. Tenten's skill with ranged weapons and pinpoint accuracy were extremely useful in that regard. Of course, she wasn't aiming to kill because they were all Hidden Leaf genin, but her aim was so on target that she could lightly slice up the three before they had a chance to react. Lee immediately followed up that assault with a blitzkrieg of hammering blows that incapacitated two of the chūnin hopefuls before they had a chance to recover. The lone remaining member of that squad was only damaged by one or two of Tenten's weapons, and he was fast enough to avoid the spandex-clad taijutsu user, but in all of the chaos, he forgot that teams contained three people. Additionally, Neji had seen that this last male was the scroll bearer, which is why he made such an effort to avoid being disabled. Unfortunately for the poor young man, he couldn't see that the Hyūga prodigy had silently dropped in behind him, and a quick Gentle Fist strike to the neck put him out of commission for a couple of hours.

Now, with a complete set of scrolls and some time to kill, Team 9 had made the executive decision to rest for the night and keep an eye peeled for any other teams that might be approaching with devious intentions in mind. They were also preparing for the coming days; to try to ensure some success and security, they were planning on camping out within the general vicinity of the tower and ambushing some of the teams that approached to supplement their supply of scrolls.

To that end, Neji's Byakugan was active, even as he slowly chewed on some of the canned baked beans that Tenten had thought to store in her scroll as a part of their rations. A light fire crackled amongst the three of them, keeping Gai's team nice and toasty.

"What's it look like out there?" the bun-styled girl asked as she cracked open a bottle of water and took a large swig.

The white eyed young man's shoulders moved ever so slightly in the motion of a shrug, and he replied, "Closest team is at least two kilometers away. We should be fine as long as someone is keeping watch at all times." That answer seemed to satisfy Tenten's curiosity as she nodded in approval.

"What about the other teams we are familiar with, Neji?" Lee asked, following that up by ripping off a piece of beef jerky, "Do you see any of them?"

Not having thought of that, the de facto scout of Team 9 replied, "No, but I'll scan around." Pumping some more chakra into his eyes, he maxed out the range of his Byakugan, which was just less than ten kilometers. While that meant he couldn't see the outer edges of the far side of the training area, their proximity to the tower (by his estimation they were only about three kilometers away) meant that he could see many of the teams still competing.

He recognized the first set of signatures based more on sheer volume rather than an inherent knowledge of whom they belonged to, though he also was able to discern their identities. It was certainly hard to miss the dual dams of chakra that were a characteristic of jinchūriki, and he had been in the presence of this particular one and his teammates enough to identify them rather quickly. "It seems that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke have already made it to the tower," he noted dryly, not missing the looks of shock on his teammates' faces, "and it appears that they are the only ones there at this point in time."

Wide eyed, Lee said, "That is amazing!" and Tenten nodded her agreement with that statement.

Moving his gaze around some more, Neji quickly spotted two other chakra signatures resembling those of Naruto. These two, however, were not familiar to him, and their secondary chakra sources were not the vibrant orange color of the blonde genin. The volume alone was still enough to confirm something in his mind, so with only the slightest edge to his tone, he added, "And it appears that there are two others like Naruto participating in this exam as well." Concentrating, he was able to gleam a little more information from his Byakugan, though it wasn't much because they were both quite far away. "The closest one is about 7 kilometers due northwest from our position, and I believe that is the team consisting of the Kazekage's children. The other one is just on the edge of my vision due northeast, moving rapidly towards the tower, and I couldn't hazard a guess as to the identities of those genin."

"What about your cousin's team?" Tenten pressed, "And the other rookie team?"

Neji had been keeping an eye on his cousin for most of the exam, so he was quickly able to answer that query. "Lady Hinata's team is actually quite close to us, only about 3 kilometers east of here. They are about as close to the tower as we are, but they only have one scroll at this point." His gaze shifted back towards where he had seen the second foreign jinchūriki chakra signature. "As for Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi, they are moving towards the tower, approximately one kilometer ahead of the team I couldn't identify with the large chakra source. Judging by how low on chakra the three of them are, I'd guess that they engaged the squad following them currently."

Lee bobbed his head as he digested that information, and Tenten appeared satisfied by the assessment that her teammate had given…until both she and the bowlcut genin noticed the darkening of his facial features as he obviously saw something he didn't like. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure," he replied slowly, locking his gaze in the direction of the Hidden Sand team, "but there is someone following them that can't be a genin. Their chakra level is absurdly high, and I know this individual isn't like Naruto because I only see one, distinct chakra well within him."

The lone female looked lost and said, "Is that strange? I know Naruto is a special case, but you have a decently large chakra supply, right? So do Shino and Chōji, if I remember correctly."

Neji vehemently shook his head, and Lee was somewhat startled by the foreign look of fear that was threatening to take over his friend's features. "No, this individual has more chakra than the three of us combined," he muttered, "I don't know who this person is, but there's something unnatural about him." Suddenly realizing something else, the young Hyūga swung his gaze out a little further and narrowed his eyes in recognition. "And whoever this person is, he's stalking the Kazekage's children."

_**Third day of the second phase, early morning**_

Moving swiftly through the trees, the team from the Hidden Sand Village consisting of the Kazekage's three children made their way towards the central tower. Being a brutally efficient team whose members played off each other's strengths and weaknesses, it took them no time to locate a team that possessed the heaven scroll that they needed, attack with quick and surgical precision, and escape before they could recover. It had been a Hidden Leaf team, but none of the three Sand genin recognized them as friends or associates of Uzumaki Naruto, so while they didn't kill them, they also didn't feel the need to hold back.

They'd probably recover in a few days…or weeks.

Now that they had the two scrolls they needed to gain access for the next part of the Chūnin Exams, they were leisurely making their way through the forest.

"This place isn't half bad," Kankurō noted, obviously impressed, "I can't remember the last time I saw this many trees in one location."

"You live in the middle of a desert," Temari needled him, "You've never seen trees period unless you travel outside of the country." Ignoring the fact that he stuck his tongue out at her playfully, she took a moment to observe the greenery zooming past them as they moved from branch to branch. "Still, you have a point. We've only come to the Hidden Leaf Village a couple of times, and I can never get over how scenic and lovely it would be to live here."

"Enough to drag you away from the fantastical oasis that is the Hidden Sand Village?" her brother probed, "It's a little hot, yeah, but the food is great, the parties are awesome, and the girls are smoking."

Now it was Temari's turn to poke fun. "If there's a nice guy here who's nice looking, has a great body, and has a nice large, fat, firm…"

"Stop stOP STOP!" the hooded genin erupted in rising intonation, comically covering his ears in protest.

"…wallet for me to burn through," she continued, even as her lips curled up in a smirk, "I would have no objections to moving here." Just as Kankurō was about to object, the fan wielder thought of one more thing to torture him. "And…don't forget, if I live here, you'd have the opportunity to come on vacations here," she noted smugly.

As the young man with the wrapped bundle on his back almost missed a foothold thinking of a late summer vacation at a lake in the Land of Fire, Temari turned her head to the redhead on her other side, who had remained silent in the entire endeavor. "Hey, little bro, you've been pretty quiet for the past few hours," she noted softly, "Something on your mind?"

He slightly turned his head so that the blonde could see her brother's eye, clouded in an emotion that she couldn't decipher. He responded just as quietly, with a minor strain in his features, "Do you mind if we rest for a few minutes?"

Both Temari and Kankurō looked flabbergasted at that; thanks to the One Tailed Tanuki sealed within him, much like Naruto and Kurama, exhaustion was an almost entirely foreign concept to him. "Is everything okay?" Rasa's first son asked gently.

Gaara nodded and waved off his brother's concern. "It's not me. I need to check on something," the jinchūriki stated, not elaborating on why. His elder siblings shared a look of confusion, but both nodded and followed the redhead as he descended from the trees and landed near a small stream.

Temari immediately sat down on a nearby boulder after propping her fan on its side. Kankurō inspected the contents of his canteen, and finding it nearly empty he walked over and refilled it with water from the creek, along with his sister's when she stuck it out in his face. The youngest of the Kazekage's siblings did not sit down, nor did he sip on some liquid or take a quick snack break. His eyes merely roamed the forest around them, searching for something neither of the elder teens could figure out. After a quick war of glares and after huffing in exasperation, Temari finally acquiesced and asked slowly, "Are you sure you're alright, Gaara?"

The gourd-wearing genin seemed to not notice his sister's inquiry, and he continued to scan his surroundings. The other two eventually gave up and continued to catch their breath. Gaara's teal eyes appeared to suck in every detail of the leaves, branches, dirt, grass, and rocks within eyeshot of his little section of the Forest of Death. Chirps, barks, growls, hisses, shuffling, even the slow gurgling of the water of the stream didn't escape his senses.

Suddenly, his eyes locked on to a point on the opposite shoreline. "I know you've been following us, and I'm starting to get annoyed that you won't reveal yourself," he shouted, startling Temari and Kankurō, "Show yourself, or I will drag you out myself."

All three heard a slow clapping noise emanate from the trees where Gaara's eyes were focusing. The soft crunching of dried leaves accompanied the slow revealing of a figure that slinked out of the shadows of the forest canopy. The figure wore a long sleeved, cream-colored shirt that draped down to the knees over faded tan slacks and regulation ninja sandals. The outfit was tied together with a purple robe belt, and a straw hat hid the person's face. "Well done, young man. Well done," a feminine voice purred, as the ninja lifted her head to reveal a young woman with a pointed face, black eyes, and long black hair. A headband betrayed the genin's allegiance to the Hidden Grass Village, and the person came to a rest on the bank of the creek, appraising the suddenly defensive Sand genin.

"Do you mind explaining why you've been shadowing us since early yesterday afternoon?" Gaara intoned, his eyes boring into the stranger, "You obviously don't have a team, so your interest in our scroll is born of blind determination to save face with your village. You could have targeted any of the other 3 teams we passed after obtaining the scroll we needed, and then there's the most damning matter…" His nose wrinkled in disgust as it inhaled the faint but pungent smell in the atmosphere. "You have an aura of death, and you smell like a common serpent." The redhead's eyes narrowed. "Explain yourself."

The female's mouth twisted into a malicious sneer. "You are quite astute, son of the Kazekage, I will give you that. But…" The sneer grew sharper, even as a long, snakelike tongue slithered out between the lips. "…why do you sound so suspicious? I'm just a genin, right? No need for such distrust." As the woman's right arm rose up to her face, she purred, "Still…you've said too much, and I really don't feel like explaining myself, so I guess that means we're…going…to…_dance_!" Her fingers ever so slightly grasped the eyelid of her right eye, and without any warning, the three Sand genin were assaulted with a wave of murderous intent the likes of which they had never felt…

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned!

I'm going to hopefully put the age problem to rest, as you will see why below. The point of raising the age was done for no other reason than to make romances more realistic. Other than that, and the slight restructuring of the academy curriculum, the characters are only slightly above the skill level they were at the same points in the manga and anime. The insertion of a couple of years was not intended to cause a similar rise in strength and ability. Period. The age increase was for romance only. Everyone, outside of their appearances resembling their post-timeskip outfits, is basically slightly above the skill level they were in the original. Throw canon out the window and forget about how powerful they were at a similar age in Kishimoto's version. For all intents and purposes, they are meant to be reasonable analogues to their originals with slight increases to strength to account for age and (in Naruto's case) an increased parental influence.

Everyone who reads this story knows that I love hearing feedback when it is constructive and helpful, I really do not care if it's inflammatory as long as the reader is not trying to be a know it all and is making an effort to offer it in a helpful manner, and I actually have taken a number of viewers' ideas/comments/critiques to heart for later plots, such as **Kamil the Awesome**, **windwarrior234**, and **Soten-ni-zase**, just to name a few. I just wish people would think before they write.

**Review Responses:**

**Kamil the Awesome:** Yeah, man, that's one I've been hiding in my back pocket from the start. I've wanted to get her involved for awhile now, and having Waterfall as a village participating in the exams in the original opened that door! Orochimaru and his genin are an interesting thing. I wasn't considering anything different, but you've forced some doubt into my mind, and I'm beginning to craft different plans for them now.


	11. (Chūnin Exams 5) Chapter 10

Disclaimer: The author does not own _Naruto_, anything related to Kishimoto Masashi's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

**Last time:** Orochimaru continued to spy on one of the teams as they made camp for the first night under the cover of an illusion, noting that one of the members was a high priority target of his before disappearing into the night. Meanwhile, Team 10 began their offensive on the Waterfall ninja and quickly realized that sneak attacks were ineffective. Using information from the failed effort, Shikamaru pieces together and confirms Fū's status as the jinchūriki of the Seven Tailed Kabutomushi (rhinoceros beetle) before surprising them with another sneak attack, this time successful in splitting up the Waterfall genin squad. Ino and Chōji retrieve the scrolls of the twin brothers using Yamanaka mind control, while Shikamaru outmaneuvered Fū and neutralized her long enough for his team to get away. A short while later, the Waterfall team revealed that they had a full set of scrolls still and that Team 10's pilfered ones may or may not be illusions. Around 36 hours later, just as Neji had seen the night before, a mysterious Grass genin confronted the Kazekage's children, and it became very obvious that "she" was not who "she" purported to be…

(Chūnin Exams) Chapter 10 – Trouble Looms! The Dangerous Third and Fourth Days!

_**Third day of the second phase, early morning**_

The Grass ninja named Shiore lowered her hand and observed her prospective opponents a few yards away. "Let's see how they handle that," she hissed softly, "I wonder how confident they'll be after experiencing true fear…"

Temari stumbled backwards and fell on her behind, though it was highly unlikely she even realized that happened. Despite her reputation as a tomboy and one of the toughest kunoichi in the Hidden Sand Village despite her rank and age, what she was forced to witness shook her to her very core. Her pupils dilated as her mind slowly came to comprehend the jumble of assorted horrors that had been forced into her brain, and an unearthly scream exploded from her mouth. Like a woman possessed, her hands scratched at her face as tears streamed from her eyes, and her screams slowly degraded to mere whimpers. Her wavering eyes made incidental contact with those of the female enemy, and while the intent was no longer being released, she still gasped and began to scramble backwards across the ground until her back hit a boulder.

Kankurō fared a little better than his sister, mostly because he had more experience than Temari in spars with his little brother and the One Tails sealed within him. It wasn't too uncommon of an occurrence for Gaara to get worked up in the heat of battle and a small amount of Shukaku's influence to leak out, and the puppet user would have to beat down the growing pangs of fear that would fester in his gut in order to continue the spar. So, while the wave of killer intent flowing from the mysterious Grass ninja was stifling and horrifying, his body was trained to resist this type of intimidation, and as such, he only began to sweat and pant a little before moving over and helping his sister to her feet.

The strange female's onslaught did not phase the One Tails jinchūriki in the least, but internally Gaara was slightly shaken by the fact that this…_genin_…was able to produce such a vile aura. Thanks to Shukaku's influence for so many of his earlier years, his hardened mind remained focused and battle ready, and he quickly hurried to Temari's side and assisted his brother in getting her to her feet. Kankurō had thrown some water in her face, and that seemed to get her snapped back to reality somewhat, but she was still extremely shaken. "W-w-w-what is she?" the blonde kunoichi stammered, "S-s-she can't be h-h-human…"

"I have no idea," Gaara murmured, "but I intend to find out." His eyes were flaring with an anger that they hadn't seen in years, not since before Lord Jiraiya's visit to Hidden Sand.

Both of his siblings looked somewhat skeptical of that statement, even as they flinched at their younger brother's intense expression. "Not that I don't trust you because I know you can handle yourself…" Kankurō said slowly, "…but this chick…I'm not sure she's beatable, even if the three of us teamed up."

Despite the somewhat tense circumstances, the redhead smirked dryly as his eyes shifted back to his brother and sister. "While I appreciate your concern, I'm not sure we have a choice either way," he muttered ruefully, nodding his head back at their collective foe. His teammates and blood relatives glanced over and saw that the Grass genin was beginning to roll one of her sleeves up, revealing an intricate tattoo. Realizing he didn't have much time left, he focused his gaze on Temari and asked quietly, "Are you okay to fight?"

Like Gaara, she was well aware of their current time predicament, so she gave him her best answer, "I'll do my best." That was enough to satisfy him, as he nodded his understand, and both brothers released her shoulders and arms to allow her to get ready. Temari shakily reached behind her, grabbed her fan, and held it diagonally in front of her protectively. Kankurō didn't extract any particular weapons, but he did flex his hands as a grim smile appeared on his face. Gaara's face shifted back to its usual impassiveness, and his gourd began to leak sand into the atmosphere.

The longhaired female grinned as she saw her prey preparing for the inevitable assault. "Good…this wouldn't be any fun if you didn't have any fight in you…" she hissed in anticipation. Biting her thumb hard, Shiore swiped her thumb up the cylindrical tattoo vertically and added, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" She soon disappeared from view as a billowing cloud of smoke engulfed her, but the Kazekage's children could see one large form and two smaller ones appear in the haze behind the thin, tall form of the female Grass ninja.

"That can't be good," Kankurō noted dryly, noting the tipping of the scales with some amount of apprehension.

Temari, having mostly recovered, slapped him upside the back of the head and snapped, "Don't be a wise ass. This is serious."

"Both of you, calm down and get ready," the final sibling muttered in exasperation, "We have some snakes to skin." Indeed, all three could make out that the newcomers were three snakes whose bodies were coiled tightly except for the head and tail. The larger of the two snakes, likely around thirty meters long, was a brown-scaled python with yellow eyes and a rapidly moving, light purple tongue that examined the atmosphere of its newfound surroundings. The other two were much smaller, only about 10 meters long, but they were also much more aggressive, hissing rapidly and shaking their rattle tails in anxious anticipation.

Without any warning, as soon as the battlefield cleared, the two smaller serpents shot forward towards the Sand genin, and Shiore jumped to the head of the larger snake that followed close behind, though slightly slower than his two cousins. Gaara acted quickly in defense, and as he raised his hands to the canopy, the sand that had been slowly pooling around his feet shot up and formed a semi solid wall between the two warring parties.

What he wasn't expecting were the evasive abilities of the pythons. The lengthy reptiles suddenly shot around the barrier, one going to each extremity, and their approach now put them straight on course for Temari and Kankurō, who were surprised but ready to defend. Gaara made a last ditch effort to raise two more shields, but Shiore and her steed burst through the original dusty barrier with little effort, and he was forced to consolidate his sand to protect him. Still, it wasn't fast enough, and all three serpents chomped down on their respective prey.

_**One of the team suites in the central tower of the Forest of Death, approximately at the same time**_

Groaning softly as he came back to consciousness, Sasuke's eyes slowly cracked open as he lay in bed. The events of the last couple of days came flooding back into his brain, and he smiled grimly as he remembered that he and his team were safely in the tower as the first team done with the second phase of the Chūnin Exams. When Naruto and his clone, carrying both himself and Sakura on their backs, arrived and unfurled the scrolls to gain access to the tower, their academy teacher Umino Iruka had been the one to greet them through the inscribed Summoning Technique on both rolls of paper. To say that he was shocked would have been an understatement. The scarred instructor was so convinced that this was a trick that Naruto let him take a few swings at him to prove that he wasn't a clone.

Of course, Iruka decided to indulge in that, and the blonde was left bruised and broken for the remainder of the day.

Despite his incredulousness at how fast Team 7 completed the exam, once he realized the reason for the haste, he quickly directed them to one of the many suites temporarily thrown together for each of the passing teams. There, Sasuke was able to lie down and pass out for long stretches of time, only waking to make bathroom trips and to sip on some chicken noodle soup that always seemed to be at his bedside.

This time when he woke up, he was somewhat surprised to see Sakura sitting at his bedside, examining the scroll of her father's genjutsu techniques that Kakashi had given her in the Land of Waves. His movement caught her attention, and she looked over and smiled brightly with a light blush on her face. "Hey there," she said somewhat mutedly, "How are you feeling?"

Sitting up and stretching his arms and legs, he had to admit that he felt a lot better than he had any of the other times that he had woken up since they had arrived at the tower, and he told her as much. Remembering the meals left on his bedside table, he asked, "Was the chicken noodle soup your doing?"

To his surprise, she snorted in a very unladylike manner and said, "You know as well as I do that I can't cook. If you and Naruto weren't around, Kakashi-sensei and I would probably starve on missions. No, this was Naruto's doing, since soup and soup-related food items are somewhat of a specialty of his." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he remembered his teammate's love for ramen, but he had to admit that the noodled broth was quite delectable, though never to the blonde's face.

Sasuke's eyes shifted down to Sakura's scroll and asked, "Mind if I take a look at that?" She looked shocked but nodded and relinquished the document. Although genjutsu weren't an area that he was particularly skilled in, he was aware that his Sharingan made using the illusionary arts near instinctual. So, while he wasn't all that interested in Haruno Kizashi's genjutsu techniques, he did feel a certain draw to the illusions. The young Uchiha rolled back the sheet until he reached the table of contents. Often, when clans or families created technique scrolls, they just wrote the stuff down as it came to mind, but in this case, Sakura's father had methodically organized his creations first by the type of illusion, then by rank from easiest to hardest. Most of the easier techniques were auxiliary techniques that were meant to be used with another, physical ninjutsu technique, which he recognized were often supposed to be from Sakura's mother. The more difficult ones were stand-alone techniques that either fooled opponents into thinking that there was some kind of flora attacking them or using plant life to evade attacks.

"Magen – Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion – Tree Binding Death)…Hanabira Chirashi (Petal Scattering)…Yōhaetorigusa (Melting Venus fly trap)…good lord, these are some nasty techniques," he murmured, "I can't hardly believe some of these are only illusions."

"Well…" Sakura trailed off, and Sasuke's attention locked back onto her as her smile grew bigger, "…I saw that too, and I asked my mother about some of them, and apparently in the right circumstances, there are ninjutsu equivalents. Her techniques utilize what's already present in the area, and no matter how hard scientists have tried, there's no way to artificially induce seed growth. So, for ones like that Venus fly trap one, if you happened to be in an area where they exist, it's perfectly possible, but around here my mother was mostly limited to trees and shrubbery. Still, they were pretty effective, and when Dad was around, the effect was compounded." Her academic explanation ended, she noted the intense look of concentration on Sasuke's face, and her firm façade faded back into a flushed embarrassed state. "What?"

"That was…remarkable," he said honestly, "I didn't think you had it in you."

The pinkette shrugged, but the blush didn't leave her face. "I guess there's no good reason not to tell you, but the act that Ino and I put on, at least for me, is just that, an act. Yeah, we have crushes on you, but we aren't all crazy..." she paused and made an exasperated expression. "Okay, in Ino's case, a little crazy, but we aren't the complete maniacs you take us for most of the time. We're just teenage girls, trying to live our lives." With that, she turned and made to leave the room, and Sasuke was somewhat at a loss for words.

The Uchiha loner suddenly glanced around the room and into the common space of the suite through the doorway. "Hey, where's Naruto at?" the recovering member of Team 7 asked, "I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have burst in here the moment that he heard my voice."

Sakura paused and poked her head into the common space. When she looked back into Sasuke's room, her face bore a look of utter confusion. "I have no idea. He was just here a few minutes ago…"

…xXx…

The Grass ninja Shiore smirked and brought her hands together, murmuring, "Release." Instantly, the illusions of the dying Sand genin shimmered away, and she was suddenly very aware of the kunai millimeters away from cutting her neck. "I'm impressed," she said, her voice betraying the truth of her statement, "A genjutsu of that level is something you rarely see in genin-level ninja."

"I'd be flattered, but it wasn't just me," Temari replied, though the flattery obviously did slightly inflate her ego. Kankurō came into view as he shifted his position to face their enemy, and his sister stood at his side with her fan mirroring her position in the earlier illusion.

"Yeah, that's a pretty chakra intensive technique. She needed some assistance from our energy pool of a little bro over there," the painted genin added, flexing the fingers on his free hand while keeping the ninja knife firmly at Shiore's neck.

"Speaking of chakra…" a voice behind the Grass ninja murmured softly, "I have some questions about yours." Gaara made his presence known, walking over to flank his brother on the other side. "You've been following us for a long time now, though you covered your tracks extremely well. I doubt that either of my siblings were aware of your presence until I mentioned it to them." The nodding of the blonde's head and the shrugging of the hooded genin's shoulders confirmed this statement, and Gaara wasn't done yet. "Additionally, the fact that you can summon three familiars at once is…curious, to say the least. Even I probably couldn't do a feat like that without gathering my chakra beforehand. There's also the matter of your stench." His nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought, "I don't have senses as sharp as others that I know, but I know that for a fact that you're not a female, and you reeked of snakes before you summoned those three." His eyes hardened, and Kankurō stepped back as sand began to pool at Shiore's feet. "I'm going to ask you one more time…who are you?"

The longhaired female smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know?" Gaara's eyes narrowed instantly, and a sandy coffin enclosed the mysterious young woman and crushed her…but no blood or gore was visible. Instead, snakes scattered to the ground and slithered away in various directions through the underbrush.

"Temari, Kankurō, take care of the two smaller snakes. I'll take him and the big one," the redhead barked, but his orders fell on deaf ears, as both of his siblings had already bounded away to engage with the smaller serpents. He turned around in time to see them disappear into the trees, followed closely by the smaller reptiles.

Unsurprisingly, when he looked towards the larger snake, he saw the form of the Grass ninja emerge from the nape of the lengthy animal's neck to stand there, smirking down at Gaara. "Attack," the newly minted he said simply, and the python shot forward with a loud hiss.

…xXx…

"Well, this should be fun," Kankurō noted dryly, landing in a clearing a couple hundred meters away from the original battlefield. As his sister landed next to him, he reached behind him and extracted two scrolls from a clasp on his belt. Infusing some chakra into both of the rolled documents, two wooden puppets appeared in front of him, supported by chakra strings connecting them to their operator's fingertips. Their rickety structure hid the true mechanisms and secrets within each one. Both were draped in tattered cloaks and had shaggy, hair-like cloth on their heads. One had a bucket-shaped head, red horns, and six arms, while the other had three eyes and four arms.

"You have a sick definition of fun, you know that?" she chided him. Still, the fan bearer reared her arms back and swung her weapon in a wide arc in the general direction of the fast charging snakes, shouting, "Fūton – Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Wind Style – Sickle Weasel Technique)!" On the downswing, giant scythes of hardened wind burst from the outer edges of the iron fan and shot into the woods, and she was very pleased to hear a startled hiss of pain. Mere moments later, one of the two snakes tumbled out of the woods with a large gash running along the side of its long body, closer to the head than the tail.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," the Kazekage's middle child intoned with a smirk as he directed his puppets behind his back, not even bothering to turn around. The second oversized rattlesnake shot out of the underbrush, fangs bared to swallow or maim the Sand genin, but the puppets named Karasu (Crow) and Kuroari (Black Ant) caught in their multiple sets of arms a huge fang each and easily held the snake at bay.

Kankurō's hands shifted just the slightest bit, and both puppets opened their mouths, revealing some manner of launcher. "Temari!" he shouted, and his sister understood what was needed without any further urging. At the exact moment that both Karasu and Kuroari fired their projectiles, the blonde recited the name of a simple, yet efficient technique, "Fūton – Kazashimo no Jutsu (Wind Style – Downwind Technique)!" The small purple balls exploded in the mouth of the rattlesnake, which immediately started coughing, wheezing, and hissing, in agonized disgust, and Temari's base level technique contained the fumes so they didn't blow back and cause problems for the Sand genin.

With one of the serpents temporarily out of commission, the older children of the Kazekage and their wooden humanoid allies turned back to address the other snake…but the reptile had disappeared. All that was left was a shed skin, with no indication as to where its previous owner had disappeared. Having no other choice, the two siblings quickly moved to stand back to back, with Kankurō's puppets on either side of their exposed sides.

They remained vigilant, but there was no sign of the first rattlesnake, and as five minutes passed, the second one began to show signs of recovering from the poisonous sneak attack. In a raspy hissing voice, it spat at no one in particular, "That was disssssgusting. It's a good thing that I can filter out poisssson from my body, or I'd be dead right now." Both of its beady eyes focused on the Sand siblings as it turned its head towards them. "You two are a lot tougher than I gave you credit for. Perhapssss we should stop messssssing around…_right brother_?!"

"I couldn't agree more!" a muffled voice sang out. Recognizing where it was coming from, Temari and Kankurō tensed, but the sheer speed of the lithe serpent was too much for them, as the first rattlesnake, completely healed, burst from the ground not too far from their position. The only thing that prevented their bodies from being crushed was their quick thinking to use the two puppets and the fan as safeguards to hold off the writhing, constricting body of the snake as it coiled around them.

Of course, the second serpent wasn't going to sit back and relax. It reared back its head and hissed, "Gashin Dokueki (Fang Needle Venom)!" Without any time to react, Temari and Kankurō couldn't do anything as numerous needles shot out of the snake's large fangs and shot down towards them…

…xXx…

Gaara stumbled back into the trunk of a large tree, bleeding from numerous small stab and puncture wounds all over his body. Though it wasn't his specialty, he had been forced into using taijutsu when it became apparent that dodging or using his sand to capture the snake just weren't having an effect on the large reptile. While he wasn't terrible, his siblings often outclassed him in hand to hand combat during casual spars, and even with the resentment towards his father fueling his motivation, he was always completely overwhelmed by Rasa. The only reason he had been able to keep up until this point was through the use of gauntlets formed from his gourd sand, compressed into a form close to sandstone to increase the striking power.

That isn't to say that his opponent was completely untouched. Despite the obvious deception, the disguised Grass genin had a very predictable attack pattern. His basic plan was just to stand on top of the giant python's head as it swerved its way back and forth through the clearing and forest, and the long haired ninja would either snipe using kunai or use a sword that had been disgorged from a smaller snake that had emerged from his mouth early in the fight. Normally, Gaara wouldn't have an issue countering an attack pattern such as that, but the sheer speed of the serpent was causing him a multitude of issues. The kunai were not a serious problem thanks to the sand shield and armor that were granted to him as the jinchūriki of Shukaku, and all of those were deflected with little difficulty.

The major issue was the sword. No matter what kinds of defenses Gaara threw up, the blade was somehow sliding effortlessly through everything he erected between the suspicious person and himself. As a result, his body was slowly but surely turning into a pincushion, and he had to resort to the sandy boxing gloves as a more solid measure just to bat away the deceptively deadly weapon.

The enemy in question was still standing on top of the python, smirking down at him. While he didn't outwardly show it, Gaara was somewhat repulsed as he watched the ninja masquerading as Shiore bring the sword to his lips and licked the blood from the blade. Even more disturbing was the apparent pleasure that he got from ingesting the Sand ninja's life force.

"Such delectable blood…" he moaned in pleasure, "Truly a wonderful chakra you possess boy."

"I don't know what your agenda is, but I'm not letting you anywhere near me to do that again." Gaara snapped in anger, unconsciously allowing the sarcastic and caustic nature of his tenant to flow into his tone.

If it was possible, the mouth of Shiore, or whoever he was, widened into an even larger smirk. "You're confident in your skills," he said, neither impressed nor condescending but rather brutally honest, "I can truly appreciate someone of that mindset, but you're still yet a genin, and you have much to learn in the ninja world!" Before he had even finished that statement, the python lunged forward once more, and the impostor jabbed forward with the sword. Only thanks to the deliberate, repetitive attack pattern was Gaara able to roll out of the way of yet another sword strike, though he had to bash it away with his sand encrusted fists and it cost him some of the earthen armor.

As the massive snake barreled into the trees, the Sand genin rolled to a halt on the bank of the river and grimaced; the continued avoidance of the creep's sword strikes and the repeated glancing blows were starting to get to him, even with the increased rate of regeneration that he possessed.

An increasingly louder whistling sound entered his ears from the general direction that Shiore and his familiar had disappeared, and Gaara barely got his head around in time to catch sight of a glint of metal. In horror, he realized that the predicable attack patterns were setting up this moment, and he overcharged his limbs with chakra to prepare a feint. It still wasn't enough, so while he was able to mostly dodge, he took another nasty slash to the upper arm, and like the previous cuts, it sliced through his sand armor and shield like it was warm butter. Clutching his arm to staunch the blood loss, he ascended into the tree branches and was forced to keep moving, as the blade was still chasing after him. He wasn't able to see the snake or the wielder, but what he could see over his shoulder was an elongated metal flash trailing off into the dark trees.

"What kind of weapon is that?" he murmured to himself as he darted through the trees, "It can slice through Shukaku's shield and armor like it's not even there, it can stretch and bend, and there's no sign of any damage whatsoever from my previous attacks." He kept up his weaving through the tree trunks, trying to catch the mysterious weapon in a tangle or the limit of its length, but nothing seemed to work. A somewhat desperate plan began to form in his head as he continued his futile attempts to lose the weapon in the flora of the forest, and after a moment of consideration, he decided that it was the best course of action.

Abruptly, he changed his course and barely dodged the blade as he charged back in the direction he had come. As he suspected, the tip of the sword followed him, even as he weaved back and forth along the length of the sword that had already followed him. Still, his exhaustion was starting to get to him, and his movements were starting to become sluggish as the sword began to catch up, and he was unable to do anything to stop the blade from running him through as it pierced through the gourd on his back, causing it to explode into fragments, and out the front of his chest.

Half a kilometer away, the ninja under the guise of Shiore grinned and whispered, "There we go," feeling the sword inflict the serious injury to his prey. Sensing that his job was nearly done, he sent a mental chakra symbol to the mythical weapon to retract and bring the injured boy back to the source of the sword, though he was well aware that it would take awhile for it to return because of the distance and extra weight.

A minute or two later, he could faintly see an indistinct form on the end of the sword as it approached full retraction. "Excellent," he murmured, "My plan is working out better than expe…what?" he trailed off as the tip caught some light filtering through the canopy. That was just enough to distract him from the quickly approaching figures, and the current fight had stolen much of his concentration. As a result, he had been completely unaware of the fact that his smaller two summons had been outsmarted at their own game, and their prey was now the predator.

"Kurohigi – Tōsenpū (Black Secret Technique – Blade Whirlwind)!"

"Fūton – Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"

The impostor was forced to abandon his serpentine steed, as it was torn to shreds by blades both physical and natural from the weapons of Temari and Kankurō. Still his concentration didn't waver from the aberration he saw attached to the end of his sword. His eyes widened as he saw not a body but a giant lump of sand in the approximate shape of Gaara's form.

"I finally have you," a harsh voice spat out from behind the longhaired ninja, and Shiore spun around and saw the redhead, perfectly intact outside of the previous cuts and bruises already sustained in the course of their battle, standing a few yards away on a branch of similar height, with a hand extended towards the Grass ninja. "Sabaku Kyū (Desert Coffin)!" he barked, and the reappearance of the seemingly dead Sand genin was enough to distract Shiore from the oncoming sand, which began to creep up the right side of the tall genin's body until it was covering most of his right arms and legs.

Still, the desperate woman/man made a lunge for the Kazekage's youngest, and Temari and Kankurō knew there was no chance to get there in time thanks to their own physical and chakra exhaustion. Realizing that it was going to be close, Gaara switched tactics and cut his loses, clenching his fist and shouting, "Sabaku Sōsō (Desert Funeral)!" Shiore grunted in obvious pain as his right limbs were shattered and smashed beyond recognition, but he wasn't going to be deterred, and his free left hand jabbed forward and lightly pierced the jinchūriki's stomach. Gaara likewise winced and coughed in pain, but he realized that without his own attack, the damage could have been much worse, though the pain lingered longer than he expected. Still, despite the pain and odd feeling beginning to fester in his gut, he wrenched his body away from Shiore.

Temari and Kankurō finally arrived up in the branches of the canopy, looking more than a little enraged. The two wooden puppets wasted no time in grabbing the shoulders of the crippled Grass ninja and chucking him into the air, and a compressed blast of wind from the blonde's fan sent him flying away. After waiting for a second to make sure the creep was finally gone, they rushed to their little brother's side. "You okay, Gaara?" Temari asked softly.

"That was a nasty stab you took," Kankurō noted with some apprehension, "How do you feel?"

He groaned softly and muttered, "I'm okay. I just need a nap. A really long one." Despite the seriousness of the situation, the hooded puppet user chuckled in amusement and the blonde rolled her eyes in exasperation. Both of the two older siblings hooked one of their younger brother's arms over their shoulders and slowly began to resume their journey to the center of the Forest of Death.

_**Fourth day of the second phase, around noon**_

As they continued to make their way to the tower at a mostly leisurely pace, Neji's constantly active Byakugan caught a glimpse of something as he made one of his regular scans of the other Hidden Leaf squads still in the forest, and he screeched to a halt on a large boulder. While he was forced to split his attention between his scouting responsibilities and spying on other squads, he was well aware of the happenings in the forest when it concerned people with whom he was acquainted. The previous day, he saw the victory of the Hidden Sand squad against the weird Grass genin, and the other massive chakra source that wasn't Gaara or Naruto had reached the tower, along with Shikamaru's squad a few hours later. Speaking of the hyperactive blonde, he had disappeared off the figurative radar a couple of hours earlier, and despite his best efforts while trying to keep his scouting up, there had been next to no sign of him in the Forest of Death, at least in the range of his Byakugan.

The problem at hand was a much more serious problem, bad enough to stop him in his tracks. Tenten and Lee almost missed his abrupt cessation of movement and had to backtrack to see what the problem was. "Why'd you stop, Neji?" the female member of Team 9 asked, "Don't tell me you need to go to the bathroom again?"

He held up a hand to silence her as he focused his chakra to his eyes to catch more details, and it was obvious that his personal needs were not the problem this time. As his Byakugan's range tightened, and the clarity of the images sharpened, he saw something truly disturbing when he checked on his cousin's squad. Where he saw four distinct forms before, he now saw seven, and that didn't sit well in his stomach. Additionally, the vile chakra of the strange individual that had been following the Kazekage's children had now departed from that path and was on a crash course for that group. "Lady Hinata's team is being attacked," he gritted out, "and that unusual chakra signal I noticed following the Hidden Sand team is now approaching their position." Lee's eyes squinted in thought, and Tenten looked mildly concerned for her teammate. Neji's expression was approaching panicked, at least for his normal stoic countenance, and when he spoke again, his voice contained just an edge of worry. "I know this isn't the best idea, but since we've already got the scrolls we need…"

"Let's go," Lee interrupted him, flashing a blinding smile and giving his pale-eyed teammate and friend a thumbs-up, "We can definitely handle them and help out your cousin! We would never abandon friends and village mates, and that goes double for family, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Tenten added, placing a hand lightly on Neji's shoulder, "We have your back now, and we always will."

The Hyūga prodigy nodded, not showing his graciousness but knowing that they could tell he was thankful for their help. He shot off the rock, changing direction so they were now on course for Team 8, the squad that they were fighting, and the mysterious shadowy figure that was intent on interfering. 'Lady Hinata, I won't let you down,' he thought, 'You and your family are the reason my family is still intact, and I can never repay your for that debt. Still, I will do everything in my power to protect you, for your future…for my future…and for the future of the Hyūga clan…I will not fail you!'

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned! The next chapter is another flashback chapter, and I'll leave you all to guess where it's going, though the end of the chapter should provide some clues. Good luck!

**Review Responses:**

**Kamil the Awesome:** No problem, man!

**Kronus96: **After a lot of consideration, I did change it to just the main characters, but I took that in the most literal sense and changed the tags to the characters who are the focus of the story. Don't worry. Once we get into the heart of the exams, you'll see some serious changes.

**BPDIDANOCSMOM:** I was just chuckling at this comment and how little people pay attention to my author's notes. No nerf has been implemented. And the fact that you're calling me immature is just laughable at best. I'd be more than happy to read your better version of my story, and thanks for your input! I'll give it all the consideration that it deserves.


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